Davis Still Keeping His Head Above Water

It has been a little more than two years since goalkeeper Tom Davis was told to sink or make saves.

Davis, a junior, has started 68 consecutive games for the Anteaters’ water polo team. He went without a break through the first 54, playing every minute. Irvine is 40-27 in that stretch, including a 13-6 record this season.

As job training programs go, this one hasn’t been too bad.

“Looking back, I thought I knew as much as I could know back then,” Davis said. “When I look back and see my progress, it’s a mind blower. I really didn’t know at all.”

The learning hasn’t been easy.

There were times when Davis worried too much about goals, even taking them personally instead of focusing on the game. That’s a dangerous habit for a goalie.

“You have to live in the present as a goalie,” Coach Ted Newland said. “You can’t live in the past or the future. If you worry about the one you let in, three more will go past you.”

Goals don’t happen quite so fast against the Anteaters.

Davis has given up a little more than six goals per game this season. Even in a loss Sunday, he kept to that average.

UCLA, ranked third in the nation, held on for a 6-5 victory over the No. 5 Anteaters. Davis had nine saves.

Davis was dumped in the pool in 1994 after Jeremy Storton, the team’s No. 1 goalie, suffered a detached retina. It didn’t help that Davis’ first start was against top-ranked Stanford.

Putting Davis in the lineup was hardly a gamble. He was a starter at La Habra High and spent a year at Irvine as a redshirt. Still, there were some rough edges.

Irvine lost to Stanford, 9-5, but Davis played well and continued to improve, working with Newland and Mike Rall, the team’s former goalie and two-time All-American.

Davis played every minute of every game this season until sophomore Genai Kerr played the fourth quarter against UC Santa Barbara in the seventh game of the season.

“The mental part was the hardest and being a goalie is 95% mental,” Davis said. “The balls come so fast at this level. I had to stop worrying about the goals I gave up.

“What helped that first year was I had a great defense in front of me. I still do. We have the best defense in the country.”

And maybe a goalkeeper to match.

“He has grown into it,” Newland said. “He doesn’t dwell on things anymore. That’s a hard lesson for a goalie to learn.”

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This water polo thing can really disrupt a guy’s life.

First, Davis had to give up skateboarding. Then, bike riding. Then, pickup basketball. And that was just during the 1994 season, when he was the only goalie on the team.

Now he has had to put a budding business on hold.

Davis is a self-employed consultant, a part-time job that has started to show profit. He has developed web sites for car dealerships and this summer created one for a Las Vegas hotel and resort.

“I made a couple thousand off that, which isn’t too bad for a part-time job,” Davis said. “Right now, I had to drop everything to concentrate on water polo. It’s sort of a layoff.”

But he expects to rehire himself after the season, maybe even pick up his skateboard.

“Actually, water polo isn’t the reason I don’t skateboard much anymore,” Davis said. “I’ve sort of grown up. You can get hurt.”

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Women’s basketball Coach Colleen Matsuhara liked what she saw Thursday from her freshmen in a 73-71 exhibition loss to Jiangsu.

Guard Shannon Anders had three consecutive three-pointers in the second half to help the Anteaters rally. Guard Megan Stafford, another freshman, had eight of the Anteaters’ 16 assists. Center Chelsea Mackey had 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Forward Kirsten Cappel also played well.

“All four of them showed they will contribute this year,” Matsuhara said.

Still, it’s nice to have some experience around. Leticia Oseguera, the team’s second leading scorer last season, had 18 points.

The bad news is that forward Sabrina Roberson, a returning starter, injured her knee in the first exhibition game. She had an MRI on Monday.

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The most deceiving statistic Thursday was the Anteaters’ free-throw percentage. Officially, they made 14 of 17. Unofficially, they shot, and missed, more.

“We got many second chances because of lane violations,” Matsuhara said. “The Chinese were used to international rules and would go into the lane too soon. There were about four to six of those and they were all one-and-ones.

“I told our players I wasn’t happy getting those second chances. We should be putting those shots in the first time.”

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Although the Anteater men’s basketball team squandered a 14-point lead in the final 10 minutes of an 85-73 loss to Telecom last Wednesday, there were glimmers of hope.

Freshman Juma Jackson scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half. When he was shut down by more experienced players, freshman Brian Johnson scored nine of his 12 points in the second half.

The Anteaters took better shots and didn’t get burned in transition, as in their exhibition game against Global Sports two weeks ago.

“The things we needed to work on we were better at this time,” Coach Rod Baker said.

There is plenty of work ahead before opening the season Friday at San Diego State. Top priority is handling a full-court press.

“I don’t know how we will do against it this week, but it won’t be because we haven’t seen it,” Baker said. “We asked our subs to step it up physically against us in practice and they got after us pretty good.

“We made a significant jump from last Wednesday. The jump has to be as significant by Friday.”

Anteater Notes

Darian Chappell from Camarillo High has signed a letter of intent with Irvine to play women’s tennis, Anteater Coach Mike Edles announced Tuesday. Chappell is a top 10 singles player in Southern California Juniors and is ranked No. 1 in Southern California doubles. Her mother, Annette Burrows, was a former No. 1 player for Irvine and her father, Bob Chappell, was a former No. 1 player and NCAA champion in singles and doubles for Irvine in 1973-74.

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a look at key games this week for UC Irvine.

* Men’s basketball 7 p.m. Friday at the San Diego Sports Arena against San Diego State in its season-opener. Last season, the Anteaters finished 15-12 and San Diego State was 15-14.

* Women’s basketball 7 p.m. Saturday against St. Mary’s in its home opener.

* Water polo noon Saturday at UC Santa Barbara to close its regular season with a nonconference game.