Water Polo
Rice’s water polo teams are making a splash. And with a third-place finish in the Texas Division of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) for the men’s squad and a strong season for the women’s, head coach Dave Lee thinks the best is yet to come.
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Dean Burke |
“The men’s team is just beginning to show its true capabilities,” Lee says. Indeed, he has a young team packed with developing talent. A record five Rice players were recognized with all-conference honors by the CWPA for their outstanding play last season: junior Dave Lynch was named to the all conference first team, and sophomore Dean Burke, senior Luke Gilman, sophomore Nick Hambley, and junior Chris Ottolino were named to the second team. While 2005 saw the team achieve several milestones, including beating Texas A&M for the first time and traveling to the University of California–Davis for tournament play against some of the best club and varsity teams in the country, Lee says his team has more to reach for. “Our goals for next year are simple: to win the Texas Division championships for the first time in club history and go to the National Collegiate Club Championships.”
Key to achieving those goals will be Lynch and Hambley. “Dave really had a significant breakthrough this past season and elevated his play at his defender position, allowing fewer goals than any other player in the conference,” Lee says. “It is probably the first time that Rice has had a player dominate his position as much as Dave did. He was named our MVP this season, but I believe his best year is yet to come.”
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Dave Lynch |
Offensively, the team looks to rely heavily on Hambley. “He represents our biggest offensive threat on the team,” says Lee. “He will quickly move into a pivotal role next year. Last year, Nick was our leading scorer and by far our most versatile player. He represents the future of the men’s team. With Dave and Nick leading a very young and explosive team, I believe we’re positioned to have our best team yet next season.”
Coming off its strongest season in the Rice program’s eight year history, the 2005 women’s squad finished with a perfect 12–0 conference record for the second straight season and placed sixth at the National Collegiate Club Championships. Even so, challenges remain. “We only have seven returning players, so our freshman recruiting class will prove to be critical to our success,” says Lee. “I think we’ll continue our dominance in the Texas Division, but we realize a lot of hard work and rebuilding lies ahead of us with the graduation of six key seniors from last year.”
Though Lee says the team’s past successes have come from strong team play rather than individual performance, team president Alex Woodruff, who is a senior this year, is a key figure. “She really has stood out as representing our style of play. She had an immediate impact on the team her freshman year and has continued to dominate at her position.”
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Women's water polo team. |
Woodruff, who began playing water polo at her California high school, has been named to the All-Conference First Team three times and the Collegiate Club All-American team twice. In addition to being honored as “player of the week” numerous times throughout her collegiate career, she was named the Texas Division Player of the Year in 2004. She feels optimistic about 2006. “We will be a smaller and younger team, but we still have a lot of potential. I think we still have a very good chance at capturing our fourth Texas championship this year.”
Sophomore Laura Timmerman also figures to be an important contributor. “Her dominance really showed in the national tournament last year, where she led the team in scoring while we were playing against some of the best teams in the country,” Lee says. “We will look toward Alex and Laura to lead the charge in 2006.”
Athletic success is not the only thing the men and women have to be proud of. In addition to having one of the highest team GPAs of Rice’s club sports, both the men and women’s team have finished in the top four in team GPA in the CWPA for the past three years.
Woodruff says striking the balance between schoolwork and practice can be difficult, but the commitment of Lee and her other teammates keeps everyone on point. “We always have had players who have been committed enough to the team to force themselves to strike the balance between schoolwork and practice,” she says. “Coach Dave always stresses that school comes first, but he also stresses that he knows that, because we are Rice students, we are capable of managing our time wisely enough to be able to come to practice. He has inspired us to achieve so much, and we are very lucky to have him. I am so happy to be on a team where everyone is committed to the common goal of being the best that we can be.”
—Sarah Williams
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