With tears in the eyes of coach and players, the CSU water polo team ended its season Western Water Polo Association Championships against top seeded San Diego 14-6.
The Rams finished in fourth place after losing their third match of the tournament 12-7 against Santa Clara.
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CSU opened the tournament with a 9-8 victory of Sonoma State.
“Friday was a really good game for us… we had control of the ball early on,” CSU coach Mike Moody said. “With good play on offense and in goal…all the girls on the roster came in ready to play at one-hundred percent.”
The Rams trailed 7-5 at halftime, but a five-goal third quarter by the Tritons sank CSU’s season.
“We had one of the best half’s of our entire season against San Diego,” Moody said. “They are a great team, but San Diego was slowly chipping away at us in the second half. And eventually was able to break away and win the game.”
A 3-0 lead off the start, the Trojans set the pace fast for the Rams. Responding with a pair of goals, CSU and San Diego remained tied at five with three minutes left.
If CSU would have beat the Trojans, the Rams still needed to win their third game to earn the automatic bid for the NCAA Championships.
Moody could not comment about players interested in transferring, but was able to say that some of the girls are very serious about leaving.
“This is obviously not how we wanted to end the season and our program,” Moody said. “It was hard, but I am very honored to have coached this team.”
Even though his job as a head coach at CSU is done, Moody was still grateful for his oppotrunity.
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“The girls and I thank you and the athletic department to play at CSU and be a Ram,” Moody said. “I am proud to have been apart of this team. It has been a lot of emotions and tears, but I am excited to see all of our new and upcoming chapters in the future.”
Water Polo Beat Reporter Haleigh Hamblin can be reached at sports@collegian.com.