Winning streaks are often celebrated, especially when you reach the heights of Mater Dei boys water polo. With an 11-6 win over Loyola on Tuesday, the Monarchs extended their winning streak to 100 games.
Mater Dei won its 46th straight game and broke the record for longest win streak in CIF history in 2011. At this point they're are just piling it on. One hundred consecutive wins is no small feat, however there wasn't much to be celebrated after the win on Tuesday.
"I wasn't too happy with the way we played," head coach Chris Segesman said.
100 straight wins or not, Segesman was not pleased with his team's focus in the non-league match at Loyola. He thought they weren't mentally focused during warmups and that carried over into the contest.
It wasn't until much later following the match that he allowed himself to think about what he and his team had accomplished.
"After I calmed down, you step back and you look at 100 victories," Segesman said. "It's a pretty amazing feat."
Although proud of the feat, the players agreed with their head coach.
"To be honest, he was definitely right to not be happy with us," said driver James Walters. "We did not perform to our best ability."
Their focus is on winning the final game of the season. The Monarchs have won five consecutive CIF Southern Section titles and are on the quest for a sixth straight.
They've heard talk of the streak all around them but haven't paid any attention. Any dialogue in-house has been focused on one goal.
"100th (win) is a great thing but we want to win CIF," Segesman said.
Of course, there wasn't much of this sort of talk around the program at all when Segesman took over as head coach in 2005.
Fresh off the 2004 Athens Olympic Games as a member of the USA Water Polo Team, Segesman inherited a program that, as he puts it, was never really competitive.
"It really wasn't a program," he said.
He preached three things: team, hard work, and family. Mater Dei now has a water polo program that emphasizes those three points.
One hundred straight wins is great but they're more excited about their 110th consecutive win if they can reach it.
Win 110 would be the sixth straight CIF title.
