The eleventh ranked Notre Dame Men’s Water Polo Team trounced Columbia University 14-5, and secured a 13th place finish, tying their previous best, at the CWPA National Club Championships this past weekend at Miami (OH) University. Captains Patrick Connors and Stephen Shepard led the Irish with 5 and 4 goals respectively. freshman Sean Rooney, sophomores Avery Ambrose and Tom Fletcher, and junior Colin Dunn also scored in the game. The Irish finished the weekend 1-2, as their two losses came to the eventual National Champions, #1 Michigan State, and #7 Slippery Rock.

The first round match-up against the Spartans saw both teams produce bursts of offense throughout, as Connors put the Irish up first less than a minute and a half into the contest. The Spartans then caught fire, scoring five unanswered goals to go up 5-1 with 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter. However, scores from Fletcher, freshman Craig Bentzen, and Connors put the Irish right back in it, making it a 5-4 game at halftime. Unfortunately, the Irish failed to contain National Player of the Year Jon Haga in the second half, and a late 3rd quarter run by MSU put the game out of reach. Shepard, Dunn, Fletcher, and Connors tallied for ND in the second half, as the final score read 12-8.

That same evening, the Irish came back to play #7 Slippery Rock University, a former varsity program that became club this past year. Despite superb defense by captain Jon Kelly and Dunn, the Irish continuously missed opportunities on 6-on-5’s and outside shots. Freshman goalie Dave Mazur was strong in goal making six saves, as the Irish offense never seemed to get going, allowing the SRU defense to relax and settle in. Fletcher led the Irish with two goals, as Connors, Kelly, and Shepard each had individual tallies in the game.

While the overall result wasn’t what they had hoped for, the team can take solace in the fact that in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, after losing five starters, they became only the third Irish Men’s team to make it to Nationals, and are looking forward to next year, as senior captain Stephen Shepard will be the only loss from the starting seven.