St. Francis College has been at its Brooklyn Heights location since 1960 but has been in New York City's most populous borough since its founding in 1885. Long Island University was founded in 1926 at its downtown Brooklyn location—and has been there ever since.

These two schools—less than a half mile apart—have been engaged in athletic competition for decades—so much so that their men’s and women’s basketball teams compete in an annual “Battle of Brooklyn” contest, typically a highly charged event for students and alumni.

With multiple NCAA Division I teams, LIU and St, Francis are founding members of the Northeast Conference, and compete against each other in ten different sports across a number of conference affiliations.

Their rivalry has even survived a name change; after more than 80 years as the Blackbirds, LIU’s athletic teams were rebranded as the Sharks in 2018—an apt name given the latest field of battle. This Saturday the LIU will host SFC in the first-ever women’s water polo contest between the two schools.

St. Francis (4-9; 0-1 MAAC) has been playing women’s water polo team for three decades albeit with little success. The Terriers—who like the Sharks are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for water polo—have advanced to postseason play only once (2009). They have never qualified for the NCAA women’s water polo tournament.

Hope for SFC comes in the form of Ilija Duretic, a 2015 graduate who last fall coached the Terrier men to a surprising second-place finish in the postseason. Duretic took over the women’s program prior to the start of the 2022 season. This change is likely jarring to athletes who were coached through COVID by the now-departed Alyssa Burgess—St. Francis did not compete last season because of the virus—but their new coach has provided necessary stability. So much so that even though wins have proven elusive, the Terriers have been surprisingly competitive against Eastern opponents.

[Duretic’s Duties Twice as Nice for SFC]

LIU launched a women’s polo program in 2019; in three seasons the Sharks (11-4; 0-0 MAAC) have quickly become one of the region’s top programs, sweeping all competition in last year’s COVID-shortened season but missing out on the postseason due to the virus. This year, Head Coach Gabby Juarez’s team is confident of a strong run at the 2022 MAAC Championships, to be held at the end of April.

[LIU Women’s Water Polo Embarks on California Trip Pivotal to MAAC Title Hopes]

First, there’s the regular season to be played. SFC has already played one MAAC match—a 20-5 wipeout by conference favorite Wagner. The match with the Terriers will be the Shark’s first conference contest this year; they’ll jump into the David Steinberg Wellness Center pool having never lost in MAAC play (7-0), the result of COVID-19 interrupting competition in 2020 and 2021.

On paper the Sharks—ranked 23rd in this week’s CWPA Top 25 poll—look to be the favorites. Don’t discount the impact of this decades-long rivalry. The Terriers would like nothing more than to welcome their opponents to this aquatic version of the Battle of Brooklyn by tagging the Sharks with their first-ever conference loss.

Revenge will be available to Saturday's loser in short order; the Terriers will host their rivals next Sunday; the Sharks will take to land for the 10-minute trip.

DETAILS:

St. Francis Brooklyn women’s water polo at LIU Brooklyn, Saturday, March 19, 9 a.m.
Location: David Steinberg Wellness Center, 161 Ashland Place (Fort Greene)
Admission is free; space is limited.
For more information: Gregory.Assainte (gregory.assainte@liu.edu)