Air Force Academy

Sept. 14, 2006

The Air Force water polo team, currently ranked 18th in the nation, is back in action at home this weekend, Sept. 16-17, at it hosts the East Meets West Tournament. The tournament, which also features teams from Brown, Cal Baptist, La Verne and MIT, begins Saturday at 9:00 a.m. and will continue Sunday beginning at 8:00 a.m. All games will be held at the Cadet Natatorium.

Full Schedule...
This weekend will feature 10 total games, as each of the five teams competing will face each other once. The full schedule follows:

Saturday, Sept. 16
9:00 a.m.     Air Force vs. MIT
10:30 a.m.    Brown vs. Cal Baptist
1:30 p.m.     Air Force vs. La Verne
3:00 p.m.     Brown vs. MIT
5:00 p.m.     Cal Baptist vs. La Verne


Sunday, Sept. 17
8:00 a.m.     MIT vs. La Verne
9:30 a.m.     Air Force vs. Brown
11:30 a.m.    MIT vs. Cal Baptist
1:30 p.m.     La Verne vs. Brown
3:00 p.m.     Air Force vs. Cal Baptist

Scouting the Falcons...
No. 18 Air Force fell to 4-4 on the season after dropping a pair of contests to service-academy rival Navy, as well as a game against fourth-ranked Stanford. Leading the way for the Falcons on the weekend were juniors Justin Berry and Clark Condict with five goals each.

Scouting the Engineers...
The MIT Engineers are currently 2-4 on the season, after defeating Washington and Jefferson and Connecticut College in their home invitational last weekend.

The Engineers are coached by Felix Mercado, in his second season at the helm of the program. Among MIT's leaders this season are sophomore Mike Smith Bronstein and freshman Rob Kalwarosky.

Scouting the Leopards...
The La Verne Leopards began the season last weekend with a 3-1 record at the Inland Empire Classic. La Verne's lone loss of the weekend came against 10th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 12-5.

La Verne is coached by Tim Hugar, in his eighth season at the helm of the program. Among the Leopards' top scorers are juniors Andrew McPartland, who registered 13 goals on opening weekend, and Seth Shelton, who had nine goals in last week's games.

Scouting the Bears...
The Brown Bears, tied for 20th in the national rankings, enter this weekend with a 3-0 record, after defeating Florida International, Washington and Jefferson and Harvard at the MIT Invitational.

Brown is coached by Jason Gall, in his third season at the helm of the program. Among the Bears' leaders on opening weekend were sophomore Grant LeBeau, who tallied 12 goals in the tournament and senior co-captain Stu Thompson, who added eight goals on the weekend.

Scouting the Lancers...
The Cal Baptist Lancers, ranked 19th in the nation, currently hold a 6-2 record. The Lancers, who will visit UCLA before heading out to the Academy this weekend, went 4-0 at the Inland Empire Classic, defeating Pomona-Pitzer, Chapman, Claremont and Cal Lutheran.

Cal Baptist is coached by Rick Rowland, now in his eighth season at the helm of the program. Leading the way for the Lancers through the first eight games of the season is junior Ryan Steiger, who has notched 24 goals on the year.

Series Records...
This weekend marks the 12th meeting in the series between Air Force and La Verne, with the Falcons 10-1 all-time versus the Leopards. The teams met last season, with Air Force taking the 6-5 win.

Air Force and Brown meet for the 16th time this weekend, with the Bears holding a slight 8-7 edge in the series. Brown defeated Air Force in last year's East Meets West Tournament, grabbing a 7-4 victory.

This weekend also marks the 15th overall meeting between Air Force and Cal Baptist, with the Falcons leading the series, 8-6. The two teams have already met once this season, with Air Force knocking off then-20th-ranked Cal Baptist, 11-3.

Meanwhile, this weekend marks the first meeting between Air Force and MIT.

Up Next...
Air Force closes out its home slate next weekend, Sept. 23-24, when it hosts California and UC Davis.

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