Making An Impact In The Pool

July 13, 2005

By Aaron Juarez
SCU Athletic Media Relations

Sure it's difficult to be the new person on the team, especially when the rest of the teammates have spent a couple of years playing together, but there's always been one tried-and-true method to proving oneself to the rest of the peers: be dominant at what you do.

For women's water polo player Catherine Flynn, coming to Santa Clara in 2003 from Sierra Junior College was a brand-new opportunity to prove herself. In the 2004 season, her first with the Broncos, Flynn earned team MVP honors while leading the team with 86 goals and finishing second in assists with 30.

"Being a transfer and joining this close-knit group of girls, I was going to have to do something right away for them and the program," Flynn recalled. "By working hard and setting an example I could help others around me improve, and they definitely responded."

In 2005, Flynn, named a co-captain by her teammates, helped pace the Broncos to a 9-3 start and a No. 20 national ranking, the first in the program's history. While leading the team again in goals scored with 75, Flynn cashed in eight times in Santa Clara's three Women's Western Water Polo Association (WWWPA) Tournament contests, leading to a program-best fourth-place finish. Her performance in the pool also earned her another historic first for women's water polo, a spot on the WWWPA's First-Team, the first such time a Broncos player had been honored.

"You're not going to get selected to the first-team unless you finish well at the WWWPA tournament," Broncos Head Coach Keith Wilbur said when Flynn's honor was announced. "Catherine helped us to a fourth-place finish, our highest ever. She's a goal-scorer, in tough games she's always able to put the ball in the back of the cage for us."

Boosted by her achievements at Santa Clara, Flynn is currently attempting to earn a spot on a professional team in Australia. Yet she fondly looks back on her career at Santa Clara and the impact she had on both her teammates and the program's growth.

"I gained so much from the girls and from Keith," Flynn said. "We were such a tight team, and that made me want to put forth all of my effort for my teammates and coaches. I just wanted them to see how hard I was working both inside and outside of the pool. This 2005 season I can easily say was the greatest year of my water polo career."