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Men's water polo hosts tournament

The fourth-ranked University of Arizona men's water polo team will compete in the Cactus Classic this weekend at the Student Recreation Center.

The three-day annual tournament, hosted by the Wildcats, will have plenty of Southern California teams, made up of ex-collegiate water polo players along with two teams from the University of New Mexico, including their college team and a team with ex-college players as well.

UA will have two teams competing in the event, an A team and a B team. The Wildcats begin play today at 5:10 p.m. and will continue tomorrow morning at 11 p.m. Sunday's games depend on the outcome of the first two days.

Last weekend, the Wildcats defeated Colorado for the first time in five meetings to win the Southwest Conference.

The Wildcats did not compete in the Cactus Classic last year and did not qualify for the national championships, so the team hopes to bring home the title this season.

This weekend's Cactus Classic will be a warm-up for the national championships the following week, which will also be hosted by the Wildcats at the Student Recreation Center.

The No. 1 team in the nation, the Michigan Wolverines, along with Michigan State and San Luis Obispo will be part of the field the Wildcats will be competing against in that tournament.

"We need to use this weekend to gain more experience against the top teams in the nation to help us win a national championship," freshman field player Aaron Hurvitz said.

Perhaps the most amazing statistic for the Wildcats is that the defense, lead by goalie Nick Lee, has only allowed more than five goals only once this season.

The only problem that head coach Bill Loftswold sees is that the team needs to work on their counter-attack.

Offensively, player and coach Bryan Kimbell leads the "run and gun offense" as the Loftswold refers to it.

"The team's strength is a tie between speed and ball handling," Loftswold said. "Right now we are where we need to be. Everybody is playing great."