Illustration by Lexi Forman, Cartoonist.
Underdog stories are a sports cliché, but Chapman men’s water polo doesn’t get just one Goliath. It faces them over and over.
Chapman men's water polo competes in the NCAA’s Division III, but its schedule includes some of the highest-level programs in college water polo. For head coach Eric Ploessel, scheduling Division I and II opponents is not just about testing the team against tougher competition. It's also a practical reality of the sport. With fewer college water polo programs available to schedule outside conference play, Chapman has traditionally looked to higher-division opponents to fill its schedule.
“We've always gone the D1 route. D2 as well,” Ploessel said.
Senior Kosta Radoman said the limited number of college water polo programs makes playing outside of Division III almost a necessity. Unlike sports such as football, basketball and soccer, water polo has a much smaller pool of collegiate programs to compete against.
“Water polo is so small that you can't just play in conferences,” Radoman said. “It's almost become normal.”
The matchups give the Panthers opportunities to compete against players who may be playing at a national-team level and learn from how those programs approach the game. Ploessel hopes the experience helps Chapman identify ways to score against stronger opponents and improve defensively, or just overall.
“(We’re) playing against some guys that are potentially on national teams,” Ploessel said. “And learning how to play at a high level, what they're doing, what they're doing against us, so that when we get to our conference games, it becomes easier.”
For Radoman, the difference between divisions goes beyond the level of competition in the pool. He pointed to important differences in speed, size, resources and training opportunities between Division I and Division III programs.
“It's more physically demanding to play a D1 team, but also just mentally demanding,” Radoman said. “Knowing that these guys have been recruited to play the best.”
Despite those differences, Radoman believes the tougher matchups benefit Chapman by giving the team opportunities to learn from its mistakes. Rather than focusing solely on winning, he said the team uses those games to understand and learn.
“It's not so much like, can we beat this team? It's how do we face adversity,” Radoman said.
Although the schedule provides a challenge, Ploessel said the team's focus remains on its own conference matchups. The Panthers have been working to improve their defense, which he identified as one of their biggest concerns this season.
“Our swimming is right there with anybody in our conference,” Ploessel said. “It's been kind of our defense right now.”
Chapman is also working toward a spot in the conference postseason. At the time of the interview, Ploessel said the team was sitting around fifth or sixth in the standings, with five teams qualifying for the playoffs. Injuries have affected the team's depth, making each conference game important.
Despite the challenges, Coach Ploessel and Radoman believe the team has the ability to keep fighting for their sport. The conference has been competitive, with many games remaining close and results difficult to predict, but they both believe the team can make it through.
For Chapman, the Division I matchups are one part of a larger goal: learning from difficult competition while continuing to improve enough to make a run in the Division III postseason.
The Panthers will test the waters next with a match-up against Redlands on Oct. 31st at 11 a.m.