On Saturday the LMU women’s water polo team played APU in their last home game of the season. They won 15-5 and walked away Golden Coast Conference (GCC) regular season champions — the first time they won the title since 2015.
With their 25-2 record this season, and on Friday will enter the conference tournament as the first seed.
“This game really showed that we are putting all the pieces together right now,” said graduate student Maddie Davis. “It’s been a long and hard season with a bunch of tournaments and games, but we are ready and prepared to go into the conference.”
Last year the team made it to the conference semifinals before losing 7-9 against University of the Pacific, a memory still fresh in the minds of many players and second-year head coach Ikaika Aki. Ikaika is a LMU alum who played four seasons on the men’s water polo team. He redshirted his freshman year in 2006, but played in every game from 2007-2010. During his four years playing at LMU the men’s team were WWPA champions and made it to the NCAA tournament for men’s water polo.
“What I’m excited about with this group is that we’re feeling really energetic and excited going into the finals,” Ikaika said.
“This game really showed that we are putting all the pieces together right now,” said graduate student Maddie Davis while commenting on their game against APU. “It’s been a long and hard season with a bunch of tournaments and games, but we are ready and prepared to go into the conference.” The team played in four tournaments this season, which started in January, and only lost two games throughout the months. Their dedication has paid off immensely this season and they have “been taking everything one game at a time,” said Ikaika.
If the team were to win the conference, they would head to the National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA) tournament consisting only of conference championship teams. For the LMU women’s water polo team they haven’t qualified for the tournament since 2012, so to be able to have the chance to go to this tournament would be an amazing accomplishment for the team. “It would be a dream come true and it’s what we train for,” said junior Sophie Kadifa when talking about the possibility of going to the NCAA tournament.
Even though the team is having a fantastic season, the coverage they have been getting so far has not been much. Since water polo is a smaller sport, the team doesn’t get as much publicity as they should be getting in the height of their success. During their Saturday game there was also a beach volleyball match going on. There was a good amount of students watching the beach volleyball match, while the water polo game mainly consisted of parents and family members. There needs to be more equal coverage for all sports at LMU, especially the ones that are having a successful season.
The women’s water polo team is gearing up for their conference tournament this weekend in Santa Clara. “I’m excited for this last week of training and I love my teammates, and the coaches have been working so hard and we are ready to win,” said Sophie Kadifa.
