The boys’ varsity water polo team had an exceptional season this year. For the first time in about 5 years, they made it past MVALS and placed 6th in NCS.

“I believe the main reason for our success this year (and quite frankly the last four years) is the core group of leaders on the team. The three team captains (Cade Ross, Michael Maher and Calvin Mei) along with Garret Takei bring a tremendous amount of experience to the team.” Coach Rich Maher said. “They work well together and the work hard … they work very very hard. They give 100% all the time in practice and they drive the younger players (through their leadership) to give the same effort.” This year, the team posted an exceptional 16-8 overall record, with a 5-1 league record. The team managed to defeat some well-known schools to achieve this record such as Logan HS, Berkeley HS, and Alameda HS. “Our best game was at a tournament in Coco county where we played Berkeley High School, and they are a good Division one team. We fought hard and won in overtime.” team co-captain Cade Ross (12) said.

As a team, Irvington managed to stick together and power past all the setbacks to achieve amazing records. “We are one of the more stronger bonded teams,” Jacob Young (10) said, “A lot of other teams make fun of players if they mess up. We don’t do that.”

For the season, the team achieved their goals of winning MVALS and proceeding to make a big impact at NCS. While this time around, the team fielded 7 experienced seniors, Irvington hopes to maintain this level of success with the help of the returning players. “The team has some big shoes to fill next fall. The returning varsity players all gained valuable playoff experience with the MVAL and NCS tournaments. They will be able to bring that valuable experience back with them next fall and help lead the team to the NCS tournament in 2019.” Coach Maher commented.