Dons hopeful despite loss

   Daniel Nagy gathered around with his teammates at poolside after an 18-9 first round loss to Orange Coast College in the Orange Empire Conference Water Polo Championships on Nov. 6, but he wasn't disappointed.
   On that Friday morning at the Fullerton College pool, spirits remained high despite knowing that the loss ousted the Dons from the OEC tournament.
   Nagy and his teammates knew they had given their best effort.
   Santa Ana bounced back from a slow start behind the Hungarian Nagy's three first half goals. A late Nelson Goossens goal in the second period made the score 9-5 for OCC at halftime.
   Nagy continued to be a force scoring within 50 seconds of the opening of the third period to cut the Pirates' lead to three. Then after his third penalty, Nagy fouled out leaving his team to try to overcome a 10-7 deficit.
   "It dropped the morale for the team when Nagy fouled out," sophomore Cody Kemp said.
   OCC proved to be too much tallying six unanswered goals over a period of eight minutes to give them a commanding 16-7 lead.
   A late rally saw Kemp and Jon Valdivia each notch goals, but the Pirates defense held up against the Dons to advance them to the second round.
   The Dons season ends with a 3-23 overall record and 0-5 record in conference play.
   Like many others, budget cuts have affected the water polo program at SAC.
   "We need more support from the school," said Head Coach Joe Billish. "You can't be a fully competitive collegiate program with two hours a day to train. We train less than a high school freshman team."