On Wednesday, Oct. 9, the Loyola varsity water polo team beat the Mater Dei Monarchs in a tense 10-8 game. For the first time this season, the Cubs played at Loyola Marymount University, where they will play a few more times this season.

While the Monarchs demonstrated a better offense, shooting 8-for-19 (42%) over the Cubs' 10-for-28 (36%), the Cubs played far better defense. Steals were a huge part of the Cubs' defense, and the steals leaders for the game were senior goalie Alex Mueller with four steals and senior field player Owen Hale with three steals. 

Another standout player against Mater Dei was senior Carson Kranz, who scored an efficient 4-for-7 goals, drew an ejection, stole the ball, and had a couple of beautiful shot blocks to ease the job of goalie Alex Mueller. 

The game against Mater Dei was an important one for the Cubs, who were hoping to defeat their rivals in order to keep their amazing record this season. The final minute of the game, with Loyola up, was a very tense minute that felt almost like an NBA game with the number of time-outs called by both coaches. The Cubs held the ball with the final seconds in order to secure their two-point margin of victory.

Due to the intensity of the game, the Cubs' rotation was highly starter-reliant. In fact, the only underclassmen to enter the game at all were sophomores Trey Rogers and Christopher Wazzan. 

The victory over the Monarchs was important for the Cubs, who are looking for vengeance following their playoff loss to Harvard-Westlake last season.