| History | |
The MIT Women’s Club Waterpolo team was founded in the mid 80's by a group of undergraduates from all across the country. By the 1990's the team was practicing regularly with volunteer coaches, oftentimes students at area schools. From 1991-1994, Dan Lasko was the head coach and was followed by Evan Weis, an MIT undergrad, and Jonaton Pfautz who served as co-head coaches from 1994-1996. In 1997, Jonathon left and Evan acted as head coach alone. He did have the help of two wonderful assistants: Brian Fitch and Mike McConnell. The following year Brian Fitch took over as head coach until MIT alum Jeff Ma returned to the MIT water polo scene around 1999. Jeff Ma was also the MIT Men's Varsity Water Polo coach and through his expertise the team quickly grew in numbers as well as skill level. They soon began to dominate the other club teams in their division and compete with the best teams around. In the difficult North Atlantic league, MIT, Yale, and Dartmouth constantly fought for the first place position. This honor would enable the team to travel to the National Collegiate Club Championships and compete against other club teams from across the country. Coach Ma also had a connection at the Division III championships, and in 2000, 2001 and 2003 secured MIT an invitation even though the Women’s team did not yet have varsity status. MIT walked away in 5th place, beating teams from New England to California. When Coach Ma left the program in 2003, MIT struggled to find a permanent replacement. The Varsity Men’s assistant coach, Andrew Wool, offered to fill the position, but left after only one year. Under Coach Wool, the women’s team placed 3rd in the League Championships. As waterpolo continued to grow in popularity in the Northeast, The Collegiate Waterpolo Association redrew the league lines for the 2005 season. MIT continued to be in the North Atlantic Division, but their rivals, Yale and Dartmouth, moved into the New England Division. This contributed to MIT’s undefeated record for the season and there first place finish at the League Championships. Part of MIT’s success was attributed to the new head coach, Felix Mercado. Coach Mercado moved to Boston from Miami, Florida specifically to coach the women’s team and assist the men. His enthusiasm and dedication to the program helped the women’s team grow and led them to take a 5th place, and two 7th place finishes at the National Championship in three years. After MIT lost Coach Mercado to Brown University as well as four athletes to graduation, the team looked to new head coach Adam Foley and veteran Assistant Carl Anhalt to bring the small team. This year, with only three returning starters and five new faces on the team, Coach Foley brought us an incredible one-loss season and a second place finish in the North Atlantic Division. With the prospect of a great recruiting class, we look forward to an exciting 2009 season!
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