Courtesy photoThe Cal Poly women’s water polo club team is heading to Portland, Ore. Thursday to compete in the national championship tournament. The Mustangs have won three national titles in the past five years and are looking to claim another one.
They recently defeated UCLA to win the Pacific Coast Championship at UC San Diego and have played teams from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, including USC and Pepperdine.
Even after starting the season without a coach, Cal Poly went undefeated in league play, at 9-0.
Greta Carroll, vice president of the team, said the Mustangs started looking for a coach in September, and interviewed a couple of candidates, but had to find someone willing to make a tremendous time commitment.
Upon starting practice in January, they looked to the men’s team.
“We had enough people to stick around the pool deck and help out, but it was pretty touch-and-go for a while,” club president Colleen Scheitrum said.
After practicing for the first month without a coach, the women’s team appointed Bobby Erzen and Dirk Camilli from the men’s team.
Carroll said the time leading up to their hiring helped the Mustangs bond.
“We had some people come in and help us during that time, and it was a lot of the older girls stepping up,” she explained. “It was really hard, but it brought us closer in the end.”
Carroll has been playing water polo in her native Santa Cruz since she was 10, and continued through high school and college.
This year’s squad, which Carroll said is “definitely a mix of age groups,” has a starting lineup half comprised of freshmen and half of returning players.
The team practices five days a week from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and holds two additional workouts from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Cal Poly plays by the same rules as varsity teams, but is separate from varsity sports. Thus, they play on a limited budget and are responsible for the majority of their fundraising.
“It’s really the competition of a varsity sport, but more fun,” Carroll said.
She added that all the players pay dues, accounting for a large part of their funding, but have held numerous fundraisers throughout the year.
The women recently held an event at California Pizza Kitchen, from which 20 percent of the proceeds went to the team. Carroll said it was the restaurant’s most successful fundraising night to date.
Nationals will be held at Mt. Hood Community College before the team will return Monday. Carroll and Scheitrum agree Notre Dame was the Mustangs’ biggest challenge this season.
“That would probably be the ultimate match-up for us to have at nationals,” Scheitrum said.
Over spring break, Notre Dame edged Cal Poly in the fourth quarter of the championship game at the Miami Invitational Tournament in Oxford, Ohio, for a final score of 4-3.
“Nationals will be the tell-all – if all this hard work will amount to something,” Carroll said.
Cal Poly will take on Chico State in its opening game at 10:10 a.m. Friday.