Water polo is not frequently associated with East Coast universities, so it might seem surprising to hear that Georgetown’s club team was ranked as high as 17th in the nation last year. Over the past several seasons, however, Georgetown has developed into a regional power and one of the top squads in the country.

Georgetown made its first trip to the National Collegiate Club Water Polo Championship in 2001, and returned to the tournament the following year. Both times the Hoyas reached the championships by winning the Atlantic Division, which includes teams from Duke, East Carolina, North Carolina State, the University of Richmond, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The water polo season consists of a pair of tournaments in which each team plays several games to determine the seeding for the Atlantic Division Championship. In 2003, Georgetown put together a 6-2 record in the regular season, but dropped two of three matches in the final tournament to finish in fourth place. It was the first time since 2000 that Georgetown failed to reach the National Championship.

Despite its early ending, last season provided several highlights. Senior captain Matt Sullivan (COL ’04), the lone returning starter from last year’s team, earned all-conference First Team honors, while senior Carlo Bena (MSB ’04)and junior Steffan Antonas (CCT ’05) were named to the second team. The team also beat Virginia Tech in a thrilling, 11-10 overtime game during an October tournament at Duke.

With such a short season, practice time is essential for the team to stay sharp. Like many club teams, however, the water polo squad faces a number of challenges due to time, space and money.

During the fall, the team practiced three times a week, including two night sessions in the diving well at Yates. Once a week, the team traveled to Annandale, Va., to scrimmage the NOVA aster’s team, an amateur team from Northern Virginia, for game experience.

“In past years we would go to the Virginia pool more often but none of the seniors had cars this year, so renting vehicles quickly became a strain on our budget,” club president and junior captain Darrell Zlotnick (COL ’05) said.

“The most challenging part about playing water polo as a club sport is staying motivated,” Zlotnick added. “Because a club sport involves less commitment, you really have to love the game in order to justify spending almost three hours of your Thursday night at practice while all of your friends are going out or studying for the big midterm the next day.”

Several students have expressed such a love for the sport. The team is made up of 15 players from across the country, with five members from polo-rich California. Most of the players have swum competitively, and 10 have played water polo before coming to the Hilltop. But prior experience is certainly not a requirement.

“Club water polo is a ton of fun and anyone can play,” Zlotnick said. “A second semester senior with no experience joined the team earlier this semester and he always talks about how having fun at practice is one of the highlights of his week.”