The No. 25 women’s water polo team kicked off its season last weekend in dominant fashion, winning five of six games at the three-day Bruno Classic Invitational hosted by Brown at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
The team is coming off a 25-win season last year — the team’s most wins in a season since gaining varsity status in 1999. The Bears’ top three leading scorers from the program’s record season — Zoe King ’23, Claire Pisani ’23 and Lily Weiser ’23 — are all returning this year. King, Pisani and Weiser recorded 73, 60 and 51 goals respectively last season. Despite the team’s recent success, coach Felix Mercado wrote in a message to The Herald via Brown Athletics that he still attempted to keep his expectations “mild” in the team’s first stretch of games.
“Because of our youth, it was important for me not to lose sight of the end goal, and that is to be playing our best at the end” of the season, Mercado wrote. “The beginning is always the unknown, so I find it best to keep expectations low.”
On Friday evening, the Bears came out firing on all cylinders, defeating La Salle University 10-4 and Siena College 14-6. Bruno carried its momentum into Saturday, beating Long Island University by a score of 13-6, and securing a 10-5 victory over Pomona-Pitzer.
Brown opened day three with a commanding 14-5 victory over Austin College, marking the second time in three years that the team earned five consecutive victories to open their season. However, Brown ultimately suffered their first loss on Sunday afternoon, losing to No. 14 Wagner College by a score of 8-6.
“Wagner ran a very effective zone defense against us and challenged our shooters,” Mercado wrote. “With their zone, once we missed a shot or turned the ball over they were off with a relentless counter attacker.”
Mercado praised seniors King, Pisani, Weiser and Bryn Gioffredi ’23 for their strong play and ability to keep the team focused. Pisani and Weiser recorded seven goals each, while attacker Ashley Penner ’26 led the team with eight goals.
Although the team had a strong offensive showing, Mercado emphasized their impressive defensive performance last weekend led by goalkeeper Shauna Franke ’24. Franke, who amassed 45 saves over the six games, replaced former goalkeeper Marley Presiado ’22, who recorded 209 saves with a .488 save percentage last season.
Franke “was fabulous,” Mercado wrote. “She had been battling injuries since last year, and I was not expecting her to play more than two games. She pulled me aside this week and said she wanted to go for it, and that she did. The scary thing is she is not even at 80%, and I expect her to keep getting better.”
Mercado described the weekend as “very good,” but added that the team still has “a long way to go” with matchups against the No. 6 University of Michigan, No. 14 Princeton and No. 19 Harvard ahead of them.
“Considering our top opponents already had games under their belts and were more experienced, for us to come out in our first weekend of games with wins over nationally ranked teams like Long Island University and Pomona-Pitzer as well as battle with top-15 team Wagner, I would say that competing for a conference championship is within our sights,” Mercado said.
Bruno will pack their bags and head west for Santa Clara University’s spring tournament beginning Feb. 18 as they continue their quest for a Collegiate Water Polo Association title.
