The Varsity Blues Men’s Water Polo team came out on top at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championship last Sunday, after securing victory over the Carleton University Ravens. The team defeated the Ravens 11-10, taking the championship for the second time in three years.
After a lacklustre 10-8 victory over the Queens’ Golden Gaels in the semi-finals, U of T doggedly battled the Ravens before tying the match with only a few minutes left on the clock, then scored the winning goal after six minutes of overtime play. The Varsity Blues closed the season with 10 wins and one loss.
The outcome of the match seemed extra-sweet to the players, as the Blues managed to take Carleton at their home stadium.
“Beating Carleton in their home pool in overtime of the championship game and listening to the crowd go silent as we celebrated was great, too,” said right Matt McLean.
The memory of Carleton’s 10-8 victory over U of T in a previous match made the players more determined to best them in the final, but McLean admitted that the final outcome was not guaranteed: “We were ready for a close game. We played them twice in the regular season, and we beat them in a close first game, and they became the only team to beat us when we played again. Both games were close so I thought this one would be too.”
Varsity Blues left Sean McGhie praised the team for their cohesiveness throughout the championship.
“Team unity is crucial to a win like we had,” he said. “Although we didn’t have the single best player in the league, we had the best six players in the water at one time in the league, and we used that to our advantage through good communication and [selflessness].”
McLean agreed that the Blues’ overall well-rounded team could be more effective than teams with just a few stand-out players: “The teams we played in the playoffs each had one ‘all-star’ player that tried to win the games, but we proved that a hard-working team could beat a team built around one player.”
Both players praised the guidance of head coach Som Seif as another deciding factor in preparing the team for their victory, with McLean commenting that “his ability to keep us [them] in good spirits and to prepare us physically and mentally for the season [attests to] his skill, and [he] thanks him for that.”
McGhie was more than satisfied with the team’s performance as the season drew to a close, but said that he believed that they “could have done great things at a higher level, if there was one.” The water polo seasons ends here, though, so the Blues must content themselves with their OUA victory for now.
