The Augustana women’s water polo team recently traveled to Sherman, Texas, to face off against Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) conference opponents. On Saturday, March 15, the team defeated Penn State-Behrend 10-3 but fell to Macalester College 7-5. The following day, the team beat Carthage College 13-11 and was later defeated by Austin College 14-13.
The Vikings’ trip to Texas followed their trip to California, where they competed in the Claremont Convergence two weekends prior. After dropping their game against third-ranked California Lutheran University, the Vikings fought back and won their next three games to finish the tournament.
Two of those victories came against nationally ranked opponents in the fifth-ranked University of La Verne Leopards and the eighth-ranked Occidental College Tigers. Games against ranked opponents can help build a team’s character, and senior Charlotte Newport is one athlete who recognizes that these wins help show where the team is at.
“Those games just reinforced that we’re on a steady uphill climb,” Newport said. “Year by year, we want to improve and get better and maintain the same level of excellence that we’ve been achieving. I think that just reinforces that the process we reinforce every day in practice is working, and it showed in those games.”
Following the success of the Claremont Convergence, the Vikings returned home to prepare for a rematch against the McKendree University Bearcats, the team that defeated them to start the year. After a long battle, the Vikings fell 11-6, but in the eyes of the CWPA, they still deserved to be ranked. In the league’s week eight rankings, Augustana remained fifth from the previous week. Head coach Ryan Pryor recognizes the young program’s achievements but knows there are more important things to focus on.
“We’ve been steadily moving up the ranks for these first four years of the program, so getting into the top five is a great accomplishment,” Pryor said. “We had a win over La Verne that propelled us into our current ranking. So it’s nice, but we don’t focus too much on rankings. We want to focus on the day-to-day process of improving and let that kind of thing take care of itself, but it’s gratifying to get that kind of recognition.”
As the season transitions from out-of-conference tournaments to conference play, it is essential that the team feels confident and ready to play to help maximize wins. Going 3-1 in California with the wins over nationally ranked teams is one factor First-Year Emma Blezien feels helped boost team morale.
“I think that confirms everything we have been doing in practice. Coming to California, not looking at the rankings and being like, ‘Yeah, this is where we should be,’ was a nice feeling,” Blezien said. “It shows that we have a lot of potential and can do these hard things. It made our whole team dynamic happy, and we felt much closer. Being a freshman and already feeling like I’m so close with everyone, the wins were just perfect.”
Following their trip to Texas, the Vikings will return home to campus with a 9-6 overall record before traveling to Pennsylvania, where they will begin the final stretch of their season. Between March 27 and 29, the Vikings will play five games, including a matchup against nationally ranked Washington & Jefferson College.
The Vikings are back-to-back conference champions, and the rest of the season will determine whether they can three-peat. While that may come with a lot of pressure, Newport plans to take it one game at a time to ensure it does not bog down their minds.
“Obviously, that would be huge. I think that’s certainly the back of my mind, if not in the back of everyone’s,” Newport said. “But again, I try not to dwell upon it because if I do, it makes us nervous because there’s a certain amount of pressure on us. I think we can do it, but we’ll take it one game at a time and hopefully get that outcome.”
