Swimming to the 'Ship

After overcoming a shaky start to the season, the women's club water polo team won the North Atlantic division and will complete in the National Collegiate Club Championship tournament this weekend.

The Eagles began their regular season with back-to-back losses. First, MIT defeated Boston College 10-8. Then, Boston University topped the Eagles 7-6. "We had a good team, but we were beating ourselves," said co-captain Danielle Bastien.

A week later, the Eagles returned to BU. Once again, they were down for most of the game. However, they rallied in the fourth quarter to force the game into overtime; they then were able to score two goals to win the game. That was the turning point for the team. "We knew we had the talent; we knew we could do it, if we could get ourselves together," said co-captain Claire Telleen.

From there, the Eagles did not look back. They traveled to a league tournament at Bowdoin College. In five games, over the course of two days, BC beat Bowdoin and Wellesley College twice each and Bates College once.

Going into the league championship tournament, BC and BU both had 6-2 records. BC was seeded second, behind MIT and ahead of BU, due to the point differential; in the two head-to-head games combined, BC scored one point more than BU.

In the first night of the tournament, BC beat the Terriers 9-4 in front of a large crowd at BU's pool. The second day, the Eagles defeated Bowdoin 14-4. On the third day, they won 5-3 over Wellesley, advancing to the championship against MIT.

BC led throughout the game, but MIT was close behind up until the final quarter. "The score does not reflect the game; we were ahead the whole time, but they were within one or two goals. Then in the last corner, we pulled away," Bastien said. BC then went on a scoring spree, including two goals in less than a minute, to win the game 10-4.

The Eagles had been to the championship the past two years and had lost to MIT both times. This year, they wanted a different ending. "We showed up to that pool and were not ready to have that be the last game of our career," Telleen said.

"This was our goal, to make it to nationals, and we made it. Everything else will be an amazing bonus," Teleen said.

"We had come so close in the past; we knew we could do it," Bastien said. "Even the freshmen wanted it and knew [the seniors] really wanted it."

BC's women's water polo team is much bigger than a standard water polo team. They have an entire additional line they can put it that can hold their own, and a few other substitutes. The team is made up of a bunch of girls from the West Coast who played water polo in high school, as well as others who have not. The sport is common in high schools on the West Coast, but is rare in this area, especially in public schools.

"Something really cool about our program is that every year we have a bunch of girls who swam in high school, but never played water polo, and some who played all through high school," Telleen said. Every year, some of the people who are new to the sport reach out to potential new players. Many BC students were athletes in high school and want the team atmosphere in college; club sports, especially water polo, appeal to those people. "Part of what makes our success as amazing is that we have done it with many players who never played before," Telleen said.

The team has definitely had a lot of success: winning the North Atlantic Division, being ranked No. 15 in the country, and is seeded seventh out of 16 in the national championship tournament. Tomorrow at 4 p.m., BC will take on Middlebury in the first round. The team's head coach, Ted Eimstad, played for Middlebury, and will now lead his team against his former team. BC's men's water polo team lost to Middlebury to keep them out of the national tournament. "We have our sights set on beating Middlebury. They are another east coast team, so we can do that," Telleen said.