The California Baptist University women’s water polo team had a successful season in 2021. As they recovered from a canceled 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to compete against some of the top teams in the country and qualify for the Golden Coast Conference championships in spring 2021.
Now the CBU women’s water polo team looks to build on their success in the 2021 season and continue it in the upcoming 2022 season. They will face some top teams from across the country in the weeks to come.
“Our first goal (for the season) is to win a conference championship,” said Jonathan Miller, head coach of the CBU women’s water polo team. “For us, that’s been our goal since day one. Over the last two years, I think we’ve really built a team that can compete for that championship.”
The water polo players will open their season at the University of California, Santa Barbara Winter Invite on Jan. 21.
The next weekend, they will host the Lancer Joust at the Lancer Aquatics Center on Jan. 29. They will then travel across the country to Providence, Rhode Island to the Bruno Invitational on Feb. 4. During this top-tier tournament hosted by Brown University, the women’s water polo team will play against some of the top East Coast teams.
The team will then return to Riverside to host the alumni game on Feb. 12, where former women’s water polo players can return to see their teammates and compete against the current team. The women’s water polo players will stay local and travel to the University of Redlands for the Bulldog Invite on Feb. 19. They will then host an international competitor and play against the University of Toronto (Canada) on Feb. 24.
After playing at the Tina Finali Invite hosted by California Lutheran University, and the Claremont Convergence hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, the women’s water polo team will play a slew of conference games against GCC opponents.
“The games that I am most excited for this season are all of our conference games, but specifically our game against SDSU because that is always a good game and will be on our Senior Day,” said Maddie Schwegler, senior business major and member of the women’s water polo team.
The Lancer women’s water polo team will finish their season with the GCC championship tournament, hosted by CBU at the Lancer Aquatics Center on campus in Riverside, California from April 22 to April 24.
“I am beyond excited to have conference at home this year,” said Jamie Hutton, senior public relations major and captain of the CBU women’s water polo team. “We haven’t held conference since I have been at CBU and seeing the energy on the pool deck our men’s team experienced when they hosted conference just makes me ready to see how our fans are going to show up. “
