Boys’ Water Polo Just Misses Claiming the Title, Manages to Pull Out Stellar Record Regardless

Despite graduating eight seniors last year, including starting goalie Max Drach '13, one of the best goalies in New England, Big Red boys’ water polo finished the year 12-6, and fell one goal shy of repeating as New England champions and bringing home their 23rd title. Although their season record fell short of the 14-5 showing put on by the 2012-13 championship team last year, Big Red played solid water polo all around, and came away with huge victories down the stretch and into the playoffs.

"We had a great season, just a disappointing final game,” senior captain JB Baker said. “We were good enough to win it all, but sometimes things just don't go how you expect them to. I will always remember this team as being one of my favorites and this season on a positive note due to the coaches and the rest of the team.”

Exeter opened its season up with two huge road victories over Hotchkiss and Suffield, outscoring their opponents 44-7 over the two-game span. With an overpowering offense and a tight defense, Exeter destroyed Hotchkiss in a lopsided 22-2 victory. Soon followed the game against Suffield, where Suffield's slow ball movement and lack of defense led to a huge Big Red victory. Exeter then beat out Andover 9-7 to improve to 3-0, thereby solidifying themselves as one of the top teams in New England, and to garner momentum for the rest of the season.

"Our first Andover win was huge for us, and really showed us that we could have a great season even though we lost so many seniors," upper Brooks Saltonstall said.

Exeter used their new found confidence to push themselves through to a .750 season, only dropping games to an outstanding Greenwich squad and Brunswick, and only being edged out by one goal to Lawrenceville and Deerfield. Big Red’s strong effort during the season can largely be attributed to the stellar coaching staff. Coach Donald Mills, who has been with the team since 2005, and assistant coach Andrew McTammany, kept to the fundamentals of water polo and did nothing flashy.

"Coach Mills has been a great role model and coach for my past 4 years at Exeter,” Baker said. “He makes sure we each grow as players, and he also takes the extra step to make sure we grow as people. He has done an amazing job with the water polo team, and has put us in a position to win it all for the last 3 years. This year, Coach McT was the perfect addition to the team as he helped work with us individually and his coaching impacted the team positively from the very start."

Saltonstall called the coaches “the backbone of the team.” “We couldn't ask for two better coaches. They are truly amazing, and somehow work the magic of getting a group of guys to work really well together as a team,” he said.

Big Red polo's success during the season led them to a number 3 seed in this year's New England Championship Tournament. While most of the student section was off at E/A, Exeter polo upset second-ranked Deerfield in overtime to send themselves into the championship game.

"Winning against Deerfield in the first round of Interschols was definitely a highlight,” upper Erick Friis said. “We pulled ahead by one point in overtime, so everyone felt the excitement throughout the game. They had beaten us earlier in the season, but we were able to pull back ahead.”

As the E/A football game drew to a close, the Robert Nekton Championship pool's bleachers filled up with audience bustling to watch the second half of the Exeter vs. Andover championship game. Although Exeter was up when the half began, they quickly fell behind two goals, and could only make one up before time expired. The game was most disappointing because Big Red polo had beating the Big Blue twice already that year, with scores of 10-3 and 9-7.

"Unfortunately, the semifinal against Deerfield worked our first string players hard, leaving them exhausted for the championship game against Andover," Friis said.

Although the team was slightly disappointed in their final result, Big Red was happy with its season record and how they played throughout fall term. They attributed this season’s success to their captains JB Baker, Nick du Pont and Joe Shepley.

"The captains worked hard to motivate the team throughout the season, and Nick, Joe and JB really complemented each other," Friis said. "The captains performed just as superbly out of the water as they did in it. They all do a really great job of motivating the team and leading by example, it was a pleasure to play alongside them and an honor to take their place and attempt to live up to the huge expectations that they have brought about.”

The team is graduating seven seniors this year, but they are hoping that JV players and returners can really step forward next year. "I think we can make it back to the championship next year," Saltonstall said.