Four years ago, the Augustana women’s water polo team saw its first recruiting class in program history as they looked to get an upstart program off the ground. Following a 20-4 season, that same group looks to finish what they started while reminiscing on their impact on a now flourishing program.
Starting the season, Augustana got their home matches out of the way in a senior day doubleheader against McKendree University and Carthage College on Saturday, splitting the matches in a 14-4 win against Carthage and a 9-5 loss against McKendree.
The nine seniors acknowledged that they held a very special place in the heart of this program. Senior goalkeeper Lizzie Pelzman, a returning Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPA) First-Team All-American, knew the weight of being part of the recruiting class. Still, she feels her weight only benefited the program in the long run.
“It [was] just crazy to be able to go to Nationals [in our first year],” Pelzman said. “I’ve just been making sure to recognize all of the good that has been done here. For a lot of us when it came to recruiting, we knew we were going to be the first ones so it almost made us work even harder. A lot of people didn’t expect us to be very good our first year, and I feel like we came out and showed them.”
The hard work has clearly shone through as the Vikings headed into the 2025 season ranked seventh by the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) in their preseason Division III rankings and currently sit at sixth. Coming off of a 20-4 season culminating in a dominant third-place finish at Nationals, it’s not shocking to find the Vikings ranked so highly. However, this ranking becomes expected when considering the amount of experienced talent returning to this team.
Head Coach Ryan Pryor has seen this program grow firsthand, as he has coached the Vikings’ water polo teams throughout their existence. He is well aware of his team’s talent and is excited to see the increased leadership this team can now showcase.
“The majority of our team is back from last year,” Pryor said. “It’s our fourth year as a program. Our first recruiting class is now seniors, and so we have a great deal of upperclassmen leadership. That increased upperclassmen leadership and that increased maturity will definitely help us in terms of our consistency and continued growth as a program.”
Of those returning seniors, two-time ACWPA Second-Team All-Conference Ocean Akau comes into the season with the same mindset she carried all through last year: a return to Nationals. For a team that has finished third in Nationals for two years in a row, it makes sense that they would be gunning for that top spot. To get there, Akau understands that the work doesn’t come when the season kicks off but rather well before they hit the water for the first time.
“It’s the same mindset we had our freshman year. Even though we didn’t know what was going on, we were still eager to get better,” Akau said. “We’ve built that over the last four years, just making sure that we’re working outside of the season so [when] we get to February, we’re ready for the rest of the season.”
With their dedication to this program, it was only a matter of time before the team turned it into a winning one. Somehow, it came sooner than anyone outside the organization could have predicted.
Now, pushing through year four of the program, the Vikings have a chance to end their first era with a bang. With the help of senior Academic All-American Charlotte Newport, this tight-knit group has the chance to build upon a culture that is already growing stronger by the year.
“It’s been such a privilege to be a part of this team,” Newport said. “You get to build the culture, and that’s something we get to pass along this year, which is obviously bittersweet, but having been a part of that first team and getting to set the standard of how hard we’re going to work, it’s been really special.”
