In a week of scoring streaks, the Grand Canyon University Men's Water Polo team opened up its 2022-23 season with an impressive 15-9 victory over the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Lopes then settled for a split of their opening week, suffering a 14-6 loss two nights later to Arizona State University in Tempe.
 
GCU 15, Arizona 9
 
Not unexpectedly, the combination of getting five months of rust off with learning the system of new Lopes' Head Coach Don Thompson took a little time for the Lopes to overcome, and three minutes into the match, GCU found itself trailing, 4-0. Once the team got in sync, though, the onslaught was merciless as GCU scored the next 12 points in succession to blow it open. The Lopes led, 10-4, at halftime, and the match was never close after that. The Lopes' leading scorer from a year ago, Beau Merritt, picked up where he left off with six goals to pace the GCU offense, while Lopes' goalkeeper Noah Bohn stifled UA's attack with 15 saves and a pair of steals in front of the net.
 
"After we fell behind, we called a time out, and emphasized focusing on every defensive possession," said Thompson. "The team played solid 'D' from then on, Noah was huge in the cage for us, and the team as a whole did a great job rallying around that 'defense-first' mentality to start the season."
 
Arizona State 14, GCU 6
 
The defensive mindset rolled over to the first half in Tempe as the Lopes allowed just four goals to the Sun Devils over the first two periods. However, the Lopes' offense never got rolling, never scoring more than three goals in any one frame or leading in the match. The Lopes pulled into a 5-5 tie late in the 3^rd period, but Merritt then fouled out of the match, and the Sun Devils took over from there. Lopes' senior Michael Crouch (four goals) and Merritt provided the Lopes' offense for the evening.
 
The Lopes now head to San Diego, California, October 8 and 9 for clashes against the 'A' and 'B' teams of both UC-San Diego and San Diego State University.