Water polo will tackle the 2024-25 season with eight new additions to complete its 16-man roster.
The seven freshmen and one transfer will be put to the test during their season opening this weekend at the Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Maryland, where they will face off against Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference rival Mercyhurst. The Revolutionaries finished their 2023-24 season 13-14 overall and placed fifth out of seven in the MAWPC.
The Revs will also compete against McKendree University on Saturday and Princeton and Salem universities on Sunday to close out the tournament.
Head Coach Barry King said the team struggled with a small roster in the 2023 season with 13 players — three fewer athletes than this year’s lineup. He said newcomers and eight returners on the team have potential to best its performance last season.
“I’ve been pleased really, pretty much by everybody,” King said. “The new guys came in with the appropriate level of desire to prove something, to show that they belong here. And the returners have returned with the appropriate level of desire to not have to struggle through a year like we did last year in terms of being short handed.”
King said the team relies on graduate student goalkeeper Luca Castorina’s expertise in protecting the goal, ultimately driving the offensive skills of the team to be top-notch.
“Based on last year, this team looks completely different,” King said. “So an element of surprise, a little bit, and also, again, it’s back to really Luca being the centerpiece. When Luca is playing at his best, it tends to make everybody else better, and we need him to be consistently at his best.”
Castorina has served as the only goalie on the roster for the Revolutionaries since his freshman year in 2020. Last season, he saved 49.3 percent of attempted shots. Senior utility player Leo Lueddemann led the returning offensive players with a 39.18 successful shot percentage, netting 38 of his attempted 97 shots. The new roster also adds freshman goalkeeper Connor Jermain, a second goalie to the Revs rotation since the 2018 season.
Castorina added that the upgraded roster includes American and internationally trained players, with six players out of the 16-man roster failing from abroad. Junior defender and transfer student Adonis Vlassis, who played for the Greek national team in 2021, previously played for St. Francis College before university officials terminated its entire athletic program in March 2023 following the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vlassis did not play during the 2023-24 season.
Other new additions include freshman attacker Yam Kabakov, who played for Israel’s national team, and freshman attacker Antonio Florena from Italy who competed for the Italian Youth National Team during the 2022 Belgrade World Cup.
Castorina, who previously played for the Italian national team where he led the U-17 team to a gold medal at the 2019 European Championships, said players trained abroad focus more on strategy compared to their American counterparts.
“I would say American players are more focused on the conditioning aspect, so maybe they will be faster at swimming,” Castorina said. “They will be more focused on always being there, physically, while the international player might focus more on the tactical aspects, rather than the conditioning ones.”
Castorina said the team will begin practicing and hosting games at The St. James sports complex in Springfield, Virginia, after playing in the Smith Center pool in past seasons. The 2.3-meter deep and 52-meter long Olympic-sized pool will allow the team to play in a pool larger than the 25-meter one on campus.
Water polo pools must measure at least 6.5-feet, or 2 meters, deep to prevent players from touching the bottom of the pool. Teams forced to play in a shallow-bottom pool are able to request that teams change sides every quarter, instead of half, according to the NCAA 2022-23 and 2023-24 Water Polo Rules Book. Officials are also able to more severely punish players by imposing 20-second exclusions for those who impede an offensive player by using the base of a shallow pool.
“We’re also very happy, because we most likely will be playing two of our home games at the St. James,” Castorina said. “It’s going to be very nice, because compared to the Smith Center, it is a big upgrade for us water polo players.”
Officials were set to demolish the Smith Center pool around Labor Day to build new practice facilities for the basketball teams, but officials halted plans in April due to structural limitations. Before officials dropped the plans, GW Athletics was working to secure a contract with practice facilities with an Olympic-sized pool in Virginia for swim and dive and water polo teams.
Freshman center Joseph McCreary said before joining the Revolutionaries for his first year with the team, he has worked to technically advance himself to a Division 1 water polo level by playing club water polo and competing in the Junior Olympics. McCreary also broke his high school record in the 200-free during his junior year on the swim team.
“Coming up to be a freshman, picking up the speed of Division 1 water polo is a lot different or a lot faster,” McCreary said. “So the biggest thing for me is getting quicker, getting smarter.”
The Revolutionaries will face off against Mercyhurst University at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday in the Navy Invitational.
