Men’s Water Polo: The Road to the Division III Championships

By: Audrey Kough, Red & Black Campus Sports Writer

The Men's Water Polo team practices in Henry Memorial Natatorium. (Photo Courtesy Regan Carlson)

Washington & Jefferson College’s (W&J) men’s water polo team traveled to Erie, PA the weekend of Oct. 22-23 to compete in the Division III Eastern Championships.

The team has been preparing for this all season by practicing both in the pool and weight room. The men’s performance at the championships will determine whether the team qualifies for post-season competition.

The men’s team has a lot of depth on their offensive and defensive side. The W&J Presidents headed into postseason with a record of 9-6 from regular season.

The championships started on Oct. 22 with the W&J Presidents playing against Austin College. The W&J men’s team played against Austin College previously in the season but lost. The team was looking for redemption.

Unfortunately, W&J fell to Austin with a score of 13-6. A slight setback to start the games off, but the men still had a lot of game left to play in hopes to redeem themselves.

W&J came back on Oct. 23 with a match-up against Connecticut College. Highlights of the game included Mitchell Rubio and Chris Edwards scoring four goals each, Zishuo Ma recorded a hat trick (meaning he scored three times throughout the game), and Andrew Edwards scoring two goals.

Overall, the team had remarkable success in this game. The men pulled out a win over Connecticut College with a score of 18-6.

W&J’s last game of the weekend was against Penn State Behrend, and the Presidents had hopes of topping off the weekend with a record of 2-1.

During the game, Rubio led the way, scoring a total of five goals. Bannon also recorded a hat trick, and Andrew Edwards scored two goals with assists from multiple of his teammates.

"Overall, the team had remarkable success in this game. The men pulled out a win over Connecticut College with a score of 18-6. "

W&J finished the game with a win of 14-6 over Penn State Behrend.

A solid collective effort from the men on the water polo team set them up for success over the weekend. Good teamwork was executed through passing to one another and helping to cover one another. Solid communication in communicating with one another and performing every play with purpose helped them score goals.

While the team did not have a clean sweep in the championship games, W&J played well and secured a spot in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships (MPSFC) in November.

For MPSFC, the W&J men’s water polo team travels to California to compete against West Coast teams. Within the MPSFC, W&J could play schools at the NCAA Division I level such as UCLA and Stanford.

As the team prepares to play their last tournament of the season, the W&J men’s water polo team continues to show up to practice and work hard. Being from a small NCAA Division III school in PA, playing against recognizable Division I schools allows W&J’s men’s polo team to make a name for themselves inside of the MPSFC.

Continue to follow the W&J men’s water polo team and their journey to MPSFC at gopresidents.com.