The Georgetown women’s club water polo team toppled the University of Virginia 8-3 for the program’s first ever victory against the Cavaliers. 

The Sept. 24 landmark win headlined the team’s 3-1 performance at the Wahoo Classic Invitational in Charlottesville, Va., at which the Hoyas crushed James Madison University 14-3 and cruised by the University of North Carolina 13-5.

Georgetown water polo, which was strictly an exhibition club until the 2021 season, wasted no time getting its second official campaign off the ground after making the journey down Highway 29 to Charlottesville. Saturday’s three-match slate opened with a contest against the JMU Dukes, and by the time the first quarter wrapped up, the Hoyas held a 6-1 lead. 

In a virtual interview with The Hoya, sophomore team captain Madeline Hartigan said the team needed to rebuild its chemistry and camaraderie going into this season.  

“Slowing it down, and setting up the full frontcourt, making the passes, making the drives, and the turns, and the picks to get open on a good offensive move, was really what we focused on,” Hartigan said. “JMU was, ‘Let’s learn how to play together again. Let’s get back in the groove.’” 

Following the morning’s 11-goal triumph, there was little doubt that the Hoyas had rediscovered their rhythm. The young, self-guided group — with a roster composed primarily of underclassmen and returning players handling all coaching duties — turned their focus to the host Cavaliers with fresh memories of last Spring’s 15-5 defeat.

However, it quickly became clear that this Georgetown squad would not meet last year’s fate. 

After clawing their way to a narrow 3-2 advantage at halftime, the Hoyas put the game out of reach with a flurry of three goals over the span of four and a half minutes in the third quarter to grow the lead to four. Virginia was not able to generate a response. By the end of the game, Georgetown’s highest scorer, first-year Olivia Semien, single-handedly matched the Cavaliers’ three goals. 

Sophomore captain Noriko O’Shea said the match is a new peak for the Hoya program.

“Everyone was working harder than I think we’ve ever played before,” O’Shea told The Hoya in a Zoom interview. “I think everything just fell really nicely into place with how we communicated, how we functioned as a team.” 

The Hoyas’ defensive effort was anchored by graduate transfer goalie Hannah Hill, who brings years of water polo experience to the team from the University of California, Berkeley. O’Shea said Hill’s veteran presence helped stabilize Georgetown’s performance on gameday.

“Towards the end of the tournament, she ended up taking on kind of a coaching role,” O’Shea said. “Her maturity really just helped us to settle and take a breath and rethink how we were playing.” 

Georgetown’s final victory of the tournament occurred Sept. 25, when the Hoyas overwhelmed the Tar Heels from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 13-5 with sophomore Rachael Jenar scoring 4 goals. Jenar would go on to finish with 5 goals throughout the weekend, forming a group of 4 top-scorers alongside sophomore Adora Zheng, who also scored 5 goals, and Semien and first-year Lindsay Machado, both of whom recorded 8.

The Hoyas’ only loss at the invitational came against a local Washington D.C. women’s Masters team, the Washington DSeahorses. Even though the DSeahorses opened with an insurmountable first half lead, Georgetown matched their efforts 3-3 in the third quarter; despite five different players scoring, however, the team ultimately lost 18-6.

Hartigan said competing against a more experienced opponent allowed for learning opportunities, especially in drawing kickouts, which are fouls where the offender is excluded from play for 20 seconds.

“Learning how to draw kickouts from them was really good,” Hartigan said. “Learning those techniques to use them on other teams is really helpful.” 

Georgetown will sharpen another facet of the game, shooting fundamentals, through a scheduled joint practice with the DSeahorses. More competitively, the program is looking to arrange matchups with Beltway rivals George Washington University and the University of Maryland before getting another look at the DSeahorses when the club hosts a tournament in November.