Not Only Fair Weather Fans Are Rewarded

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. I’d like to believe that over the past decade I’ve proven my devotion to St. Francis Brooklyn men’s water polo. My first game as a fan was October 20, 2012 when the Terriers beat Harvard 14-9. My first piece on the program—and first-ever about water polo—dates back to September 25, 2013, when the Terriers dropped a home match, also against the Crimson. By my estimates it was the program’s first loss at the Genovese Pope Center in 11 years.

As a writer I’ve chronicled the program’s ups and downs; as an SFC fan I’ve been elated by wins and stunned by defeats. None more so than last weekend’s 20-5 thrashing at Harvard. That was the toughest Terrier loss I’ve ever endured, primarily because they had played so well in beating the Crimson earlier this season.

[The Terriers of St. Francis Brooklyn Are Back!]

So please don’t fault me for almost overlooking Saturday’s brilliant performance against Princeton in the Tigers’ home pool. Facing the East’s top team without Dominik Hevesi, the Terriers’ captain and top scorer, was a seemingly impossible assignment. He was called for a brutality in the Harvard match a week ago—meaning he had to sit out last Sunday’s contest against Brown, a 14-13 OT loss, as well as the match at DeNunzio. Add in that SFC had lost its last five meetings against Princeton and had never beat them at home in seven previous attempts.

St. Francis Brooklyn men’s water polo at Princeton earlier this year. Photo: SFC Athletics

Social media provides a wakes up call

I was not thinking about any of this until a Twitter notice caught my eye: @PrincetonWaterPolo tweeted that St. Francis was leading 7-2 at the half. I scrambled to get the ESPN+ feed (no easy feat while riding a train from New York City to Albany) and saw sophomore Matteo Nardelli score the biggest goal of his Terrier career to put his team up 8-3 with three minutes to go in the third.

Sports pessimist that I’ve become, I waffled in my hopes that SFC could pull off a monumental upset. Not without reason. The past few years have not been kind as none of the teams I root for have won anything since the NY Football Giants beat the hated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI nine years ago.

Oh, the Mets went to a World Series a few years back—and sweeping the Cubs in the NLCS was incredible—but Jeurys Familia’s quick pitch to KC’s Alex Gordon Game One of the 2015 World Series still burns.

As the game clock in Princeton ticked down to six minutes remaining in the match—and SFC still maintaining a five-goal lead—I began to believe that Saturday might be a brilliant sports day.

Then came a four-goal Princeton run, keyed by Keller Mahoney’s natural hat trick. I braced for this (or so I reasoned with myself); but when the Terriers were called for an offensive foul with 40 second remaining leading by a single-goal, panic set in. Then my reception dropped (you’d think there would be consistent cell coverage all the way to Albany!).

Just before I was going to lose my mind and curse ESPN, Amtrak, Verizon, the referees, my cat (I don’t have a cat), the stream returned. The Terriers had the ball with 20 seconds left—and were still leading 8-7.

Princeton’s DeNunzio Pool is one of the East’s best. Photo: M. Randazzo

My team was going to win!

And win they did; Josep Jodra Munoz boosted a shot over Princeton goalie Antonio Knez to seal a 9-7 win for Head Coach Iljia Duretic’s squad, marking yet another big win for the first year coach. The Terrier stats Saturday were impressive. Goalie Djordje Stoiljkovic registered double-digits in saves, including stopping two out of three Princeton penalty shots. Aleksa Sisakovic and Adonis Vlassis were magnificent on offense, delivering three goals apiece. And the team defense in front of Stoiljkovic was brilliant, holding Princeton to single digits in scoring for one of only a handful of times this season while fighting off 14 man advantages.

What does it all mean?

The seedings for the Northeast Water Polo Conference Championships—to be held at Princeton from November 19 – 21—are now set. The host Tigers (23-7; 8-2 NWPC) are first; they will get a bye into the semifinals on Saturday. #2 Harvard (25-4; 9-2 NWPC) will play #7 Connecticut College (1-13) on Friday. #3 St. Francis (13-6, 6-3 NWPC) draws #6 Iona (7-18; 1-9 NWPC). #4 Brown (18-13; 5-4 NWPC) will face #5 MIT (8-16; 2-9 NWPC).

For Duretic and his players, hopes of the conference’s automatic NCAA berth are now revived. They’ve beat two of the East’s best teams, and have a date with Fordham, at #17 in the CWPA’s Top Twenty poll, the East’s only other ranked team.

I’ll sure be watching my Terriers this time.