The men’s water polo season is right around the corner, and the team has been picked first in the pre season polls. As all eyes are on Augustana and their chance to win their third consecutive title, Coach Pryor believes there is no pressure on the team.
“It’s always nice to get recognition of what we’ve done in the past, but I don’t put a lot of stock into preseason polls,” Pryor said. “We name our teams based on the year of our program, so we’ve had team one, team two, team three, and now this is team four. Team two and team three won the NPSF East championship, but obviously, Team Four the story has yet to be written, and so nice to get that recognition of what we’ve done the past couple years, but we understand that it’s a new year and a new process.”
Another key part of the season is that 20 of the members from last year’s roster will be returning this year which will make a significant impact on the experience of the team and the team chemistry.
“I have no doubt that the team chemistry will get even better,” junior Declan Hutton said. “Our seniors this year started off the first ever water polo season in Augustana history, so they’re pretty much the old boys in the team starting it all off. It’s my hope that in future seasons, the team chemistry that team one installs just continues and thrives. Our team is big on team chemistry, we have no clicks in the team.”
One big strength for the team has been the leadership that the team has.
“We actually have the same four captains we had last year, and so it’s been great having that continuity of leadership and they’ve done a great job for us,” Pryor said. “Then we’ve had a couple of non captains who’ve always just been a great leader by example, and have started to become more vocal. This is our fourth year as a program so for the first time we have a significant upperclassman presence. It’s been great to see that leadership.”
With a new season also comes new challenges for the team as well.
“I think a challenge will be that we’re setting our goals on higher competition,” junior Oskar Bannister said. “Playing from a new perspective, where we have greater expectations for ourselves will be difficult, but we just have to continue to learn how to work as a team and to take down bigger opponents.”
Through the challenges that the team will face they still have their eyes on winning their third consecutive title as well as other goals outside of the sport.
“We want to be consistently ranked in the top 10 in the country, both in terms of the water polo rankings, but also our team GPA. So we want to excel both athletically and academically,” Pryor said. “We want to win our conference championship, the NPSE. We want to qualify for the National Championship tournament. And like I said, ultimately, we want to win a national championship.”