St. Francis Men's Water Polo Opens Home Slate Saturday at Genovesi Center

When the St, Francis Brooklyn men’s water polo team opens it slate of six home games Saturday afternoon against the Crimson of Harvard, much will be different for fans of one of the country’s most consistently successful programs.

Following the retirement last year of head coach Srdjan Mihaljevic, a Terrier water polo fixture since arriving in Brooklyn Heights in 1997 as a freshman, Igor Zagoruiko assumed coaching duties. The St. Francis roster features six new players, representing a complete turnover of the team that went to three NCAA Men’s Water Polo Final Four tournaments in four years (2010, 2012, 2013). And, for only the second time since 2004, St. Francis is not the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Northern Division defending champion. That distinction belongs to Brown, the result of an 9-6 win by the Bears over the Crimson, the first time St. Francis was not in the championship match since 2009.

This weekend presents an opportunity for a young St. Francis team to start a new streak of conference dominance, with three home games against their chief Northern Division rivals: Brown, Harvard and MIT.

Up first for the Terrriers are the Crimson (4-5; 2-1 Northern Division). The country’s 18th-ranked team, sporting eight seniors and signature wins over MIT and Santa Clara, travels to Brooklyn for a 2 p.m. match up.

For Harvard head coach Ted Minnis, whose 2013 squad snapped an 11-year Terrier home win streak, Brooklyn Heights is never a friendly place to play.

“Because of how they are, and their passion [St. Francis] brings best out of you,” Minnis said by phone. “We don’t expect anything less the battles we’ve had over the past three years, and we’ve had some real good ones.”

“It’s a different size pool then we play in at Blodgett [Harvard’s home pool]. It’s close quarters and they’re more used to that,” Minnis said of the Terriers’ advantage at home — a pool that at one end is barely five feet deep, less than the sport’s standard six-foot depth.

MIT (3-3; 0-2 Northern Division), at one point nationally ranked (19th) in the CWPA 2015 Men’s Varsity Poll, will face St. Francis at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. Last year the Engineers took the Terriers to overtime before falling 15-14.

Brown (8-3; 2-0 Northern Division), reigning Eastern champs by virtue of a 7-6 win over Princeton in the 2014 CWPA Championships, is the team St. Francis most wants to beat. The 12th ranked Bears will face the Terriers at 11 a.m. Sunday morning. The last time these two rivals met in Brooklyn, in November 2014, Brown captured an 11-8 decision.

St. Francis (4-4; 1-0 Northern Division) is coming off a 17-12 win on Wednesday against conference rival Iona.

Coach Zagoruiko was pleased with the win, his first ever in conference play, but has high expectations for his squad.

“This is the hardest part of coaching… that players will communicate and understand each other, where the ball goes, where they’re supposed to swim,” the SFC coach said following the victory in New Rochelle, the Terriers’ 19th straight win over the Gaels since 2000. “It’s like a chain of connections; they’re supposed to be reacting at the same time.”

The rookie coach demurred when asked about this weekend’s matches.

“Of course I’m trying to motivate them because these are home games,” he said. “But every game is very important.”

Especially those against division opponents.

St. Francis Brooklyn men’s water polo versus Harvard, Saturday, September 26, 2 p.m. The Generoso Pope Athletic Center, 180 Remsen Street (between Court and Clinton Streets); vs. MIT, September 26, 7 p.m.; vs. Brown, Sunday, September 27, 11 a.m. Admission is free. For information contact Maggie Martini, Director of Athletic Marketing / SWA at mmartini@sfc.edu / 718-489-5411

PHOTO CAPTION: The Generoso Pope Athletic Center Pool, St. Francis Brooklyn
PHOTO CREDIT: © St. Francis Brooklyn Athletics