Lawrence Tolentino set himself up five meters from the opposing goalkeeper. The Hawks’ freshman utility had been awarded a penalty against Merced College on Nov. 9. A win secured third place for Las Positas men’s water polo in the Coast Conference. Last season, the Hawks finished sixth.
Tolentino looked to the right and took a deep breath. His teammates, spread out behind him, hurled advice his way.
“One smooth motion,” someone yelled.
Tolentino did just that. He raised his arm, positioned the ball by his head and flung it past the keeper. The Hawks exploded in cheers.
The celebration wasn’t because his penalty was the deciding score. They won 27-12 over Merced in the third place game of the conference championships. They weren’t ecstatic about securing their place in the standings. They had hopes of a higher finish.
Instead, the cheers were for Tolentino. It was his first goal of the season and of his college career. It proved a positive cap to the season, the cherry on top of the progress the Hawks have made.
Their season is over, finishing 10-16 — a marked improvement over the 3-20 record the Hawks men posted in 2024.
The men’s third place finish is their second best result in program history. It certainly helped take away the sting from their last defeat.
Las Positas entered the Coast Conference tournament expecting to finish second place. West Valley, one of the best in the state, is the clear best in the conference. And when the Hawks beat Ohlone on Sept. 16, they earned the No. 2 seed in the conference championships.
But in a rematch with Ohlone, a game that decided whether they would finish third or second, the Hawks fell short. The Hawks didn’t play with the energy needed to finish the job.
“Our team was just looking past this game,” sophomore Zach Ulrich said. “I think we just didn’t come to play. And it hurts because we beat them before by good margins.”
The Hawks were still in their usual high spirits the next day. They knew that they still had a job to do, and sulking was only going to make it worse.
“I think that that’s the mark of a good team or a good athlete,” Jason Craighead, one of the team’s head coaches, said. “You forget about the past. You have to have good short term memory and be able to refocus and get after it the second day.”
Against Ohlone, it wasn’t only their lackluster energy, but also unsuspecting strategic changes by them that caught the Hawks off guard.
“They attacked us with bigger bodies posting up,” head coach Nathan Brandon said, “and they brought their biggest threat out and used him as a defensive player instead of an offensive player and that got us off our game.”
Against the Merced Blue Devils, the Hawks played much faster. They moved the ball effectively, jumping out to an early lead. A lead that allowed any potential tension to immediately dissipate, and for the guys to focus on enjoying their final game of the season.
They were all bought in on getting Tolentino his first goal, with multiple offensive possessions centered around trying to get him a clean look before his eventual penalty.
“We have a good, supportive team,” Craighead said. “They want to share their successes, they want other people that are new to the sport, like Lawrence, to get a taste for what it’s like to score a goal, to be successful, to have that benchmark.”
While the lopsided victory felt good for the Hawks, they still had a sour taste in their mouths. As they watched Ohlone lose to the eventual champion West Valley Vikings 24-6, a team the Hawks lost 23-11 to, they couldn’t help but feel they should have been second.
“That’s just what happens with sports,” Brandon said. “That’s why we play the games. That’s why it makes sports so fun to play, to watch, to be passionate about.”
Top photo: The Hawks men’s water polo team finished with a seven-game improvement over last season. (Photo by Jakob Arnarsson/ The Express)
Jakob Arnarsson is the Editor-in-Chief of The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @JakobA2004
