After its first New England title and its best-ever regular season record at 10-4, Andover Boys Water Polo will look for success in the pool despite the loss of ten Seniors.
Andover’s team is headlined by Co-Captains Marc Sevastopoulo ’15 and Nick Faulkner ’16, and bolstered by Seniors Eliot Sagay ’15, Chris Li ’15 and Aaron Teo ’15. Anchored by players who have experience in water polo and have trained in swimming for years, speed in the water will be a huge advantage for the team.
“Historically, we’ve been very strong in the counter-attack; that’s where we can really catch up to our opponents, and Co-Captains Faulkner and Sevastopoulo will definitely keep it strong,” said Sagay, the team’s starting goalie.
Sagay looks to fill the void of Rome Arnold ’14, who was voted Most Outstanding Goalie in the Championship Tournament last year.
“Obviously I learned a lot training with Arnold every day in the pool, and combined with my experience in previous matches, I think I’m prepared,” said Sagay.
Jonathan Xue ’17 added, “I think he might do even better than Arnold last year.”
The team will focus on integrating newcomers with the returning team to create a close-knit unit.
“All the returners are pretty cohesive in terms of chemistry, but we need to keep working with the new members of the team to obtain the bond that helped us win a championship last year,” said Xue.
The team will have to account for the loss of last year’s Co-Captain and leading goal scorer Travis Bouscaren ’14. With similar builds, Faulkner seems like the ideal replacement for the void left by Bouscaren.
In addition to new players, the team is welcoming a new Head Coach after Head Coach David Fox left for the year on sabbatical.
“I am very excited by the new players that have joined the team this year. I think that the combination of returning experience and new talent will produce a very successful season,” Coach Howie Kalter ’07 wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
Kalter, who played water polo at Andover for three years, went on to have a very successful collegiate career at Bucknell and was named an All-American. His illustrious playing career and faith in his players command the respect of the team.
“He is an incredible coach, so I’m sure he will lead the team to success this season,” said Faulkner.
Andover opens the season against Loomis Chaffee this Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
