After wrapping up their regular season and earning the second seed in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference, water polo (15-8, 11-3 MAWPC) is readying to compete in the conference championship tournament on Friday.
Last season, the Revolutionaries finished with a 13-14 overall record and earned fifth in the MAWPC Championship. They will begin championship play with a Friday game against Johns Hopkins (11-21, 3-11 MAWPC).
The Revs gained eight additions to their roster this year, adding seven freshmen and one transfer to their ranks. Freshman center Joseph McCreary said he is excited to play in the conference championship, and he looks forward to the opportunity to continue helping lead the team’s offensive structure. He said he’s seen improvement in his individual and team play as the year has gone on.
“Speaking for the freshmen, it’s of course our first time playing in conference, and it’s very exciting, kind of nerve-racking,” McCreary said.
Graduate goalkeeper Luca Castorina has been a leading force for the team this season, with a 47.86 shots-saved percentage in his fifth season and three MAWPC second team titles under his belt. Head Coach Barry King said Castorina is “stalwart” for the team.
“We want to do things that are built around his skillset and his ability to keep balls out of the goal,” King said.
The regular season started off strong for the Revs with a 17-8 win over Mercyhurst (7-23, 0-14 MAWPC), followed by victories in two of their next three games at the Navy Invitational. The team competed in a California tournament and the Princeton Invitational in September, losing two games in Princeton but winning two of four in California. The Revs capped off their season with an 11-7 defeat against Navy (20-9, 10-4 MAWPC), ending the season winning two of their last three games.
The team will open championship play with a matchup against Johns Hopkins. This will be the teams’ third dance this season after the Revs beat the Blue Jays 14-12 on Oct. 20 and won 11-7 against them earlier this month. Castorina said he hopes the team can build off the momentum from their previous wins against the Blue Jays and create bigger score differentials.
“We can do much better than what we did during the season against Johns Hopkins,” Castorina said. “Especially because it’s the first match of conference, so we can start immediately by showing teams that we’re here for just one reason, that is to play the final against Fordham.”
King said after their Johns Hopkins matchup, he expects the team to face Navy, which sits in third place in the MAWPC, just one seed below the Revs. The Revs battled Navy twice in the regular season and both were close games, with the Revs walking away with a narrow 13-12 win in a late October game and losing to Navy in a 7-11 defeat on Nov. 9.
“What we need to do, what we’re better at than they are, the kind of advantages that we have versus them,” King said. “We’re working on strengthening those and ensuring up the things that they might do a little better than us.”
Fordham (28-0, 14-0 MAWPC) poses the biggest threat to the Revs in the championship tournament, holding the No. 1 seed in the MAWPC and an undefeated record. The Revs twice faced and lost to Fordham in the regular season, falling to the Rams 9-20 in September and again in a 5-19 loss earlier this month.
“Our task is pretty Herculean in terms of trying to unseat Fordham, but really, the whole thing is to get to that game and then give ourselves the chance in the one off,” King said.
Castorina said he and his team hope to strengthen their play for upcoming championship games and fix errors during the season against past opponents.
“We made this mistake the last few times,” Castorina said. “But I don’t think it’s gonna be the same case Friday at 6 p.m. because we’re ready, and you know we’re gonna give it all one more time.”
Water polo will face John Hopkins in Annapolis, Maryland in the first round of the MAWPC Championship on Friday.
