For the first time since the fall of 2009, Wesleyan water polo has qualified for a spot in the Division III National Club Championship.

While water polo is a club team and thus does not not compete in the NCAA, it is a member of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), a conference composed of both NCAA varsity and non-NCAA club teams. Within the CWPA, Wesleyan is considered a Division III institution and hence has the opportunity to earn a bid to the Division III National Championship based on regular season performance. However, a Nationals bid has narrowly evaded the team for each of the past two seasons.

In 2010 and 2011, Wesleyan lost Nationals bids to NESCAC rival Middlebury after narrowly falling to the Panthers in the New England Division Championship. To make things even more frustrating for the Cardinals, this happened both years after they had handily beaten the Panthers in earlier matchups. One reason for this was a lack of experienced depth, which was in turn exacerbated by midseason injuries.

“In past seasons and in earlier tournaments this year, we really relied on only one or two players to do a lot of the playmaking for the team,” co-captain Wes Fantini ’13 said. “This is no longer true.”

The current Wesleyan starting seven is composed of five seniors, one junior, and one freshman, all of whom have been playing water polo since high school. However, it took much more than this experienced group coming together for the Cardinals to be successful.

“We’ve really focused this season on playing better team water polo because that is what our league demands. While we have some of the most skilled players in the league, skill alone cannot win games against a deep team so we’ve really relied on playing smarter, more deliberate water polo, in addition to conditioning more than we ever have in the past,” Fantini said.

On Saturday, Oct. 20, Wesleyan managed to finish ahead of Middlebury in the standings and clinch a bid to Nationals after topping Division I school Boston University by a score of 9-6 in the 2012 New England Division Tournament. This win was especially gratifying for the Cardinals, as it demonstrated visible improvement.

Two weeks prior, BU dominated a sloppy Wesleyan defense to triumph 14-10. However, this time around the Cardinal defense was the story of the day, as it held the Terriers to less than half of that total thanks to improved positioning and anticipation by the field players and a stellar performance by rookie Navarre Ginsberg ’16. On the offensive side of things, Nick Huston ’13 and Thomas Cho ’13 hurt the BU defense with their persistent outside shooting.

At halftime, Wesleyan held a narrow lead of 6-5. However, the defense turned up the intensity to hold BU to just one goal over the final two quarters, which paved the way for the 9-6 Cardinal victory

“We really came together as a team in the second half with a lot of intensity and spirit that we hadn’t had in any other game,” said Fantini.

This weekend, Wesleyan travels to Middlebury, Vt., where the team will face Hamilton in the first round of Nationals. Hamilton is currently ranked fifth nationally among Division III teams, while Wesleyan is ranked 10th.