About five years ago, when the men's varsity water polo team was cut from the Boston College athletic program, no one would have dreamed of the results of this year.
Playing and practicing in the ill-equipped pool of the Flynn Recreation Complex in the five years since its last NCAA competition, the water polo program at BC has rebuilt itself into the form of a formidable club team, competing in the eight-team North Atlantic Division of the Collegiate Water Polo Association.
Now the men's club water polo squad will head to its first ever National Collegiate Club Championship at Miami University as champions of its division.
The team faces the University of Washington in the first round Friday night.
"Everyone's motivated and excited about this. It's a great opportunity," said Jamie Martz, a junior on the team.
This season the team went 6-2, good enough for second place in its division.
Entering the North Atlantic Division championship tournament in late October as the second seed, the Eagles drew Bates College in the first round.
After vanquishing the Bobcats via forfeit, the Eagles advanced to the semifinals to face Colby College, a team they had lost to earlier in the regular season.
This time, the Eagles downed the Mules 10-7 to advance to the finals against then-unbeaten Dartmouth, who would become previously-unbeaten Dartmouth.
In a close match, BC edged its opponents 12-11 in a game that hinged on the brilliant play of the Eagles' goaltender and co-captain Jed Kelly.
"He came up big. He stopped a breakaway with two minutes left, and it gave us the momentum to push ahead," said Martz.
Heading into the national tournament, Martz reflected on the main challenge that faced the club team in its quest to fulfill the team goal of making it to national stage.
Surprisingly it wasn't any opponent in their division.
"The Plex pool that we play in is really bad. It's always a huge challenge to play in those pools, but we adapt and get things done. But that's one of the main things holding us back, having a decent pool to play in," said Martz.
Despite having inferior facilities to those of most of their opponents, the Eagles have made history in only a relatively short time in club competition.
And in the Eagles' quest to make more history, the Huskies of Washington now stand in their way as the first obstacle.
"We don't know anything about them. They're obviously a pretty good team to make it as far as they did. We have to be mentally prepared. We've never played anyone from the West Coast, so its going to be a huge learning experience for everyone on the team," said Martz. "We're all really excited. We've been working all season for this and we're ready to go."
