As this weekend’s hosts of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s waterpolo championships, the Varsity Blues will be looking to defend last year’s title. While last year’s stacked team effortlessly swept the finals, this year’s Blues are a very different team and are in for a very different challenge.

Of the seven players named OUA first-team all stars last year, three were from the Varsity Blues. None of the three have returned to play on this year’s squad. In fact, the team virtually lost all of last year’s starting line up.

“It’s been a challenge to work with this team,” says coach Som Seif of this year’s waterpolo roster. Despite it being a younger and less experienced team, Seif does stress that “the team has developed very well over the season. We’ve achieved our goal of improving from game to game.”

Where last year’s team went undefeated, this year’s has a noticeably weaker record. Ranked third in the province behind Western and Queen’s, the Blues go into this weekend’s championship as one of the underdogs, with a 5-3-2 record.

The Queen’s Golden Gaels are this year’s favourite, heading into the weekend with a 9-1 record. Although the Golden Gaels have an impressive record, many of those wins were the results of extremely close and high-scoring games. The other three teams in the championships, Toronto, Western (6-3-1), and McMaster (5-4-1) are all closely matched.

Though not as strong as in 2002, the Blues do have a shot at recapturing the championship title. They are the one team that beat first-ranked Queen’s in the regular season, and they are coming directly off a tied game with Western.

While the loss of veteran players like all-star Marco Fernandez has hurt the Blues, most of the pain is alleviated by the remarkable success of many of the team’s rookie players. The team’s top two goal scorers, Jake Pottier and Paul Sullivan, are both rookies.

This year, “there’s no superstar,” says Seif, “no one person to watch. There’s five or six players that other teams are always looking out for.” The coach is counting on this added depth to see the Blues through the weekend. “You’ll see us in the finals,” says Seif.

With very little distinguishing the teams in the regular season, the home turf and championship title to defend may just give the Blues the motivational edge that they’ll need to recapture the gold.

The Blues take on Western in the semi-finals Saturday, Nov. 22 in the AC.