From staff reports

The fourth-ranked Arizona men's club lacrosse team lost a tough game to top-ranked Whittier Saturday afternoon.

The Laxcats (6-2 overall, 3-1 in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League) fell behind early in the 13-6 loss, trailing 3-0 after the first period.

In that same period, during a substitution, a player from Whittier pushed a Laxcat into the scorer's table. An Arizona player reacted by knocking a Whittier player off his feet, and a fight ensued.

"It was just the immaturity of the young, inexperienced players," Laxcat head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said.

Both teams handled the situation quickly, and there were no ejections, but each team was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct foul.

Arizona was strong in the second period, scoring four goals. The Laxcats outscored Whittier 4-3 in that period and were down 6-4 at the half.

Senior goalie Justin Nels had 16 of his season-high 30 saves in the first half.

"Nels was big. He was the man today," Felton said.

"He played a great game. The score could have easily been 26-6," Whittier assistant coach Mike Shriver said about Nels.

Arizona kept pace with Whittier (12-0) until the fourth period when the Poets scored five goals to put the Laxcats away.

There were a lot of penalties that hurt the Laxcats by forcing them to play a man down.

"The defense played very well. They did a better job," Felton said.

As has happened in previous games, the Laxcats were hurt on the faceoffs. Whittier won most of them to give the Poets possession and more chances to score.

The ball was on the Laxcats' side of the field for a good part of the game.

Arizona will host Trinity College from Connecticut tonight at 7 at Tucson Magnet High School.

Trinity played Whittier Sunday afternoon and lost 12-8, but the score was not very indicative as Whittier was up 12-0 before Trinity made a run.

"Being a team from the east, Trinity didn't take Whittier serious, and by the time they did, it was to late," Felton said. "This was good for Whittier, but will be bad for us. (Trinity) will be better prepared. They are a solid team."

Earlier in the season Trinity defeated Bates College 12-2. Arizona also defeated Bates 17-15.

� Joseph M. Molina

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The Arizona men's water polo team scored some impressive results in last weekend's Cactus Classic tournament at the Arizona Student Recreation Center. The team blew out Arizona State and Washington by huge margins, but fell short in the semifinals, losing to Nordic, a club team from Minnesota, 7-4.

Arizona finished the tournament with a 2-1-2 record.

Against Nordic, Arizona was hurt by missed opportunities and spotty finishing.

Jason Fine and Travis Pentice, who play both the hole and two-meter positions, consistently worked the ball around the opponent's goal area, forcing the Nordic players to foul them, risking a short ejection.

But the Wildcats couldn't capitalize on their man-advantage situations, shooting the ball wide or high on most occasions.

"Travis and Jason got the kick-outs (ejections) on them, but we just couldn't take advantage of that," UA head coach Tracey Lassen said. "Our offense just wasn't clicking."

In their first game of the tournament against New Mexico, the Wildcats needed a last-second goal from senior Scott Mencke to escape with a tie. Mencke, an outside shooter, grabbed the ball in front of the Lobo goal and fired it in with one second remaining on the clock.

Lassen said he expected a close matchup with New Mexico.

"It's always real tight with those guys. It's always a big rivalry," he said.

Arizona's second game was against Cal-Pinch, a club squad from Orange County. The result was another tie, 8-8. Wildcat Jonathan Lewis, a transfer from Auburn, led Arizona with two goals.

Lassen said he wasn't disappointed with a tie against a California team.

Pinch fields an experienced team of former collegians and high school all-stars.

"They're always a strong team. They have a lot of CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) All-Americans playing for them," he said.

After the two ties, the Wildcats took on ASU in a game the Sun Devils might want to forget as soon as they possibly can. Arizona won in a rout, 25-1.

Lassen said the Sun Devils couldn't match Arizona's team speed. Time and again, the Wildcats exploited the advantage in quickness they had over ASU.

"We basically were just outrunning them, breaking up and down the pool on them," he said. "They couldn't keep up with us."

Juniors Ryan Kaneshiro and Justin Kerfoot, both outside drivers, led Arizona to the big victory.

Lassen said the Sun Devils typically field a better team, but he added that in a rivalry as intense as the one between the two schools, it doesn't matter.

"Sure, their program is a little bit down this year," he said. "That's why we ran up the score on 'em."

It was more of the same for Arizona against Washington. The Wildcats defeated the Huskies 17-2.

Sean Matt, Arizona's goalie, was named to the all-tournament team for his efforts.

Arizona, 8-3-2 overall, plays next in April at a tournament in New Mexico. Also scheduled to compete are Air Force and ASU.

� Ron Parsons