A Decidedly Eastern Flavor at NCAAs
This year’s NCAA Men’s Water Polo tournament may be based in Northern California, but there’s distinctive links to Eastern water polo in the nation’s signature polo event.
Starting with two of the eight teams gathered at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center—Fordham, which held on for a 13-9 quarterfinal win against San Jose State to advance to a second-straight semifinal match-up with USC, and Princeton, which fought valiantly in dropping a 15-11 decision to UCLA—a number of players and coaches have connections to the East. It’s a welcome sign that a decades-long push to grow the sport outside of California has borne fruit.
Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center, a water polo paradise. Photo: Stanford Aquatics
The Rams are now an NCAA staple, having qualified for the past five tournaments. That they have made it to the final four in back-to-back years is unprecedented in national championship play. At the heart of what is the East’s top collegiate program is Bill Harris, a long-time New Yorker who began setting the stage for Fordham’s success in 2004 when he took over at Rose Hill.
[Fordham’s Bill Harris on New York City Water Polo: “We Just Had Fun!”]
Now an assistant to head Fordham coach Brian Bacharach, Harris’ past as a school boy phenomenon at Brooklyn’s Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, star at St. Francis College, and a long and successful career as a member of the New York Athletic Club’s men’s team are distinct features of what makes Fordham such a great New York City story. The Rams also have an NYC connection in the water; sophomore Csongor Bartuszek started his polo career in Brooklyn before making his way to Greenwich High School in Connecticut then arriving in the Bronx.
[At Fordham, Where Lombardi Once Ruled, Water Polo is Now King]
Princeton has long been the East’s top program, and under California transplant Dustin Litvak the Tigers have achieved unprecedented success, winning five consecutive Northeast Water Polo Conference titles and with it five trips to NCAAs. A number of local players have joined Litvak in New Jersey, but perhaps none have had as great an impact as JP Ohl, who is among the nation’s assists leaders with 82. A Greenwich, CT native, JP’s brother Ryan is on the Stanford roster. Waiting in the Cardinal wings is Conner, now excelling at California powerhouse Newport High School, who will join Ryan on The Farm next year. Princeton also has Greenwich’s Andrew Tu, a sophomore, on their squad.
Gavin West is yet another Greenwich native who transferred in high school to California and is now a member of Cardinal Head Coach Brian Flack’s squad. Stanford qualified for this year’s Final Four by virtue of a 15-9 quarterfinal win over UC Davis. The Aggies also have an New York flavor; freshman Max Prokhin, who chipped in two goals in the loss, is a Brooklyn native.
USC is also in on the Greenwich talent pipeline. Luke Nelson, yet another product of Greenwich Aquatics Head Coach Ulmis Iordache’s well respected program, is a junior with the nation’s top collegiate program. Like the Ohls, the Nelsons are a polo family. Austin is a freshman at George Washington while brother TJ is at Greenwich.
[On The Record with Ulmis Iordache, Greenwich Water Polo Coach]
Fordham, which is hoping to become the first East Coast program in NCAA tournament history (57 years) to advance to a national championship final, has one other link to the East, though it is circuitous. Ram Assistant Coach Ilija Djuretic, a native of Serbia, played four years for St. Francis College of Brooklyn and was a semifinalist in 2013 when the Terriers made the last of their 4 Final Four appearances. Djuretic coached the Terriers for two seasons before St. Francis abruptly eliminated all athletic programs in the spring of 2023.
Djuretic also has a key position in maintaining the East’s pipeline of polo talent to NCAA collegiate powers; this fall he was named as head coach for Asphalt Green’s age group program, where the region’s top players will ideally gather at New York City’s best pool on their way to collegiate success.