After an undefeated 2023-24 regular season, Northeastern’s women’s club water polo team is preparing for its first game of the season Feb. 1 at Boston University. The team placed eighth overall at nationals after becoming the first Northeastern water polo team to qualify and is working toward making it to nationals again.

“To get to nationals again, I think we just need to have a positive attitude and focus on being a good team who works together,” said co-captain Ruby Solomon, a third-year criminal justice and psychology combined major. 

The team won 12 regular season games across the region last season and hopes to repeat the record.

“We wanted to have fun, and we ended up winning,” said co-captain Anna Schlegel, a third-year psychology and economics combined major. “It was unexpected.”

This season, Northeastern’s team has a new coach, Jacque Li, who went to nationals three times during her collegiate club water polo career at the University of Washington. 

There is little barrier to entry to join the team, according to the captains. “We don’t even have tryouts. Our only requirement is that you can swim,” Schlegel said. Schlegel had little water polo experience when she joined her high school team; however, playing basketball helped her grow into the sport. “If you are a basketball player, you would probably make a good water polo player,” she said.

In water polo, often regarded as an aquatic version of basketball or handball, each team aims to score the most points by getting the ball into the goal at the opposite end of the pool. Players are not permitted to touch the bottom of the pool and must tread water to stay afloat. Each team can have seven players in the pool at all times, with one serving as a goalkeeper. 

“As a club team, we always want to focus on being a welcoming and inclusive environment,” Solomon said. “We have players of all skill levels and experience in water polo, so we want to make sure every individual feels like they can grow and improve.”

Solomon and Schlegel emphasized that water polo is a sport that can be taught to anyone. They hold practices during the fall semester to prepare for spring season tournaments. 

“I came here right after N.U.in, so the team was a great way to make friends,” said Caroline Vooss, a second-year mechanical engineering major. Though Vooss was a competitive swimmer in high school, she had no professional water polo experience. For those in her shoes, “My advice is to just have fun with it and don’t take it too seriously,” she said.

An essential part of the sport is the relationships the players form with each other. 

“One thing I really loved about the sport, especially as a woman, is the confidence it can bring women who play the sport because [water polo] is so physically demanding and requires you to not give up,” Solomon said. 

The team has had to overcome late practice hours resulting from the high demand for the Cabot Center pool, given the facility is the only campus pool for Division I and club aquatic sports. This semester, the team practices at Cabot Tuesdays from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Wednesdays 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays noon to 2 p.m. The pool, however, is too shallow and is not properly staffed, according to co-captains Schlegel and Solomon.

“As a club sport at a school that has D1 teams, I understand that there is a focus on the D1 teams. That being said, we have a D1 varsity women’s swim team, yet the pool is still not great,” Solomon said. 

“It doesn’t even meet the standards of the collegiate water polo association,” Schlegel said.

The Cabot pool is utilized by the men’s and women’s club water polo teams, the women’s Division I swim team and diving team, the triathlon team and the men’s and women’s club swim teams.

“It is interesting that our pool and the facilities are so poor given that other sports that have men’s [Division I] teams have great facilities,” Solomon said.

Despite these hurdles, the team continues to thrive both as a community and competitively.

The team will compete in its first tournament at Boston University Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 at 3:30 p.m.