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Dynamo Water Polo Club returned home from the
11th FINA Masters Water Polo World Championships at Stanford University in Palo Alto,
CA last week with plenty of positive results. Unfortunately, their 0-5 record was not
in the “plus” column.
“It’d be great if we went undefeated and won the tournament.” explains driver Manny
Torres. “However, we knew that was unrealistic before we boarded the airplane two weeks
ago. We played five games against five better teams, so the 0-5 record isn’t a surprise,”
continued Torres, who swam and played water polo at N.C. State University.
“Our goals for the FINA trip were to play hard, represent our club well and meet players
from around the world,” added Stuart Sheldon, a utility player who swam and played polo at
Washington & Lee University and served as club manager for the trip. “Based on the number of
t-shirts we traded, PowerBars we shared during the games and beers consumed at the Gordon
Biersch tent we definitely accomplished at least two of our goals. We never gave up in the
pool so I rate the trip a complete success.”
“At the end of the first quarter of our first game we trailed Swim Club Neustadt (Germany)
team by four,” reflected team veteran and Villanova water polo alum Ed Opalach. “It was
definitely a rude awakening. The troops rallied a bit when I reminded them that those guys
put their lederhosen on one leg at a time, just like us.”
The only real competitive disappointment for Dynamo came against the Sharks, from southern
California. Scouting earlier games, DWPC felt they matched up best against this opponent.
Consistently poor execution and mistakes by Dynamo throughout the game kept the Sharks on
the feeding end of the meal. DWPC took some consolation from the fact that three of their
five opponents finished in the top 5 of the entire tournament.
Over 7,200 athletes from 75 countries competed in five aquatic disciplines - Water
Polo, Synchronized Swimming, Open Water Swimming, Diving and Swimming at the bi-annual event.
(
Full tournament results)
- S.C. Neustadt (GER) 11 - Dynamo 4
- Bay Area (USA) 10 - Dynamo 6
- W.P. Romania 16 - Dynamo 2
- Sharks (USA) 11 - Dynamo 1
- Newport WPF (USA) 13 - Dynamo 3
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Latest Headlines:
5/9/10 - Results from Dynamo's appearance at the Cinco de Mayo Invitational in Tampa have been posted.
Cinco de Dynamo
4/27/10 - Pictures from Dynamo's competitions at the 2010 Dogwood Invitational are available.
Dogwood Pics
4/25/10 - The stormy weather cleared over Saturday night and Dynamo sprinted off against N.C. State under sunny, windy conditions Sunday morning. At stake: a spot in the 5th place game against the winners of the Florida Gators/Ohio Squirrels game. True to form, DWPC started slowly against the Wolfpack. The second quarter started with the score tied at 3-3. Sean "Wild Berry" Fitzgerald won the sprint (he was 4-4 in the game). DWPC worked the ball to Stu Sheldon on the lefty wing while Chris "Hairy Spider" Sirras set strong-side 2meters. Stu put the ball right in and Chris efficiently finds the back of the net with just 15 seconds off the clock. Dynamo notched two more and held NCSU scoreless to finish the first half 6-3. State capitalized on several Dynamo gaffs on defense to climb back into the game in the third but never got within 1. High school senior Alex "Baby Dynamo" Olbrych added great counter-attack swims to his good weekend of defense and score three of his four break-away shots in the second half. Paced by Olbrych, Dynamo pulled ahead by as many as five goals and prepared for the 5th place game. On the other side of the tournament brackets, UF and the defense-minded Ohio Squirrels squared off to determine which team advanced to face Dynamo WPC. The Dynamo squad watched with great interest as they refueled with PowerBars and PowerBar Recovery drink. With a former USA National Team-er in goal, the Squirrels held the score down until halftime. As much as the Ohio team tried to go nuts on offense, the Gators seemed always able to clamp down and took control in the third. After their win over the Squirrels, UF informed tournament officials they would forfeit the 5th place game. UF started finals on Monday and the Gators had an 8 hour drive to complete. Dynamo left Knoxville 5th out of 14 teams, proud of their 1 loss, to Ohio University in round-robin play, in what may have been the best game of the
tournament. 
4/10/10 - Dynamo Water Polo Club continued a busy April travel schedule with the Spring in the Swamp tournament in Gainesville, FL. As always, the team looked forward to a weekend of sunshine in the Gators' outdoor pool in the shadow of "The Swamp," the UF football stadium.
Dynamo won its first two games against UF and the Tampa Thunder. The game against Thunder was a close one, with a number of lead changes as both teams searched for control of the match. Dynamo utility player Tim Hansen put away the winning goal in the final seconds of regulation time.
Dynamo lost 10-7 to the Central Florida Suns in the semis. In the third place game, Dynamo beat cross-town friends from Georgia Tech.
Dynamo closes out April at the Dogwood Invitational in Knoxville, TN in two weeks. The UT trip is the third away tournament of the month for DWPC.
Too Much Sun in Swamp
6/17/09 - The USWP Masters National Championships has been announced for June 10th - 12th, 2011. The event will be hosted at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.
To learn more or to reserve your team's spot in the event, please register for the 2011 Masters Nationals Email List.
2011 Masters Nationals
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