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The UCLA mens club team that turned away Dartmouth in yesterday’s CWPA Men’s Club Championship semifinals boasts a roster of some pretty well known names in California interscholastic water polo. The huge Jed Springer from Menlo-Atherton, and Brandon D’Sa from Long Beach Wilson, both formerly on the Bruins’ varsity roster, are just a couple that come to mind.
Their surprise foes in today’s championship match arrive from St. Charles, in some ways the center of Missouri’s small but vibrant water polo scene, home of the Rec-Plex, where much of the state’s most important competition takes place. And while Division II Lindenwood can count on plenty of local talent to fill their roster (and other imports from around the globe), this season’s ascent to the title match can be attributed largely to an influx of talent from Spain and its robust club system.
The Lions’ leading scorer in their shocking semifinal win over Cal on Saturday was sophomore Diego Aldea Lopera, a C.N. Madrid Moscardo product who can be found among 2nd Division high scorers in the country’s RFEN tables.
Fellow Madrileno and sophomore Alvaro Castro de Ondarza tallied three in the match. His club, Real Canoe, featured American youth standouts Tommy Corcoran and Thomas Hale in 2009. Castro became a more dangerous goal-scorer as his club career progressed.
Freshman Javier Platero Garcia, also from Madrid, scored twice yesterday and raised his game to first-division status in Spain just this past year.
Catalans Guillem Borras Gali and Alex Beltrol-Navarro have been contributors also, and round out the regional diversity of Lindenwood’s Spanish imports.
The Lions will attempt to become the first Division III club to ever win a national championship when they take on two-time title holders UCLA at 12:45PST on Sunday the 10th. As have all the tournament matches, it will be streamed live via the CWPA’s Game Central.
An earlier version of this story stated that Lindenwood is a Division III school. It is an NCAA Division II institution. Lindenwood won three Division III club championships in a row ending in 2008.
Well Lindenwood is Division 2, so. . .
Since corrected. Lindenwood last competed in the Division III club championships in 2008. The Lions won three D-III club title between 2006 and 2008.