Women’s water polo plays one of the toughest schedules of Azusa Pacific sports. For the past two years, the team has been part of the Golden Coast Conference, which consists of six other squads.
Head coach Julie Snodgrass took the helm of the program in 2012, kickstarting a conference-selection process.
There were three conferences she could have chosen. The Mountain Pacific is home of the top four nationally ranked schools in the nation and is generally a step ahead of the rest of the competition. The Western Water Polo Association, from which the Golden Coast Conference split, was the other option. However, of the three choices, Snodgrass decided on the Golden Coast Conference — which kicked off its inaugural season of competition in 2014.
Currently four of the seven teams in the GCC are nationally ranked in the top 20.
“It was a group of like-minded people who wanted to better the sport, better the programs, and seek competitive games,” Snodgrass said. “It was a conference that was more geared at not just making the NCAA tournament because you win your conference, but being able to win a game in the national tournament.”
Women’s water polo is not separated by division, meaning university athletic programs traditionally classified as Division I in all other sports still compete with other programs traditionally classified as Division II or III.
This is true of four of the seven GCC member schools, including Pacific, Loyola Marymount, San Diego State and Santa Clara. The other two schools are California Baptist and Fresno Pacific, both of which are traditionally classified as Division II.
January through mid-February is considered the tournament season, before the teams move into conference play. The tournaments are set up in a round-robin format so that all teams get to play a set number of games and improve.
“I select the tournaments based on the level of teams that generally play at that tournament. My goal is to play ranked teams throughout the season so that we have the chance to beat a ranked team to earn a ranking,” Snodgrass said. “The purpose of the tournaments is to go play teams outside of your conference.”
Ranking in the top 20 is based on points. A team does not get points based on which opponent it beats, but if it wins against a team in the top 20, then it moves up in the rankings.
“All the teams we have lost to, with one exception, have been ranked or are currently ranked in the top 20,” said coach Snodgrass. “Because we play so many top-20 teams, we have a lot of chances to get it there.”
The Cougars are led by center Taylor Whitney with 41 goals, who is just one of three seniors. Their second- and third-leading scorers, junior Alba Espinar and freshman Ashley Taylor, will both return next season. Taylor belongs to a stable of capable freshman as APU looks to build for the future.
The team is currently 1-2 in conference and 8-12 overall. APU will host California Baptist on April 2 at 5 p.m. at Citrus College.