New SFC Water Polo Coach Brings New Ideas as Terriers Rebuild

The St. Francis Brooklyn men’s water polo team that hits the water today in a season-opening match will have a revamped roster and a new coach — but very few of the players that led the Terriers to back-to-back CWPA Eastern championships in 2012 and 2013.

Only seniors Jacob Barashick, Matthew Varela and Liam Veazey remain from the greatest run of success in program history: three Easterns titles and NCAA Men’s Water Polo tournament appearances in four years (2010, 2012, 2013).

Igor Zagoruiko, who last April took over as St. Francis head coach when Srdjan Mihaljevic retired, is tasked with restoring the Terriers to their accustomed prominence atop East Coast water polo.

The first time head coach, a former Olympian (2000, 2004) as well as an assistant coach with the Kazakhstan National Team (2004-07), has embraced American basketball and resistance training in preparing his multi-national squad — ranked 17th in the CWPA Preseason Varsity Top-20 — for a challenging season, which tips off against Occidental College in the Bruno Fall Classic at Brown.

Senior Bora Dimitrov (43 goals) and junior Ilija Djuretic second (42) return to power the Terrier offense. Missing are Nathan Kotylak (31), Vuk Vujosevic (31) and Lazar Komadinic (27) as St. Francis lost to graduation more than half of its goals scored last season.

Veazey (25 goals, team-leading 12 assists) will be tasked with running the offense and picking up some of the scoring slack. Barashick will also need to increase his goal total (9) and provide quality minutes off the bench, as the Terriers will field 13 players, one of the smallest rosters in NCAA DI water polo.

With two experienced goalies on the roster — junior Zack Cleveland and sophomore Nikola Zivkovic both saw significant playing time last year — St. Francis can expect consistent net play.

But with half of his roster brand new, the Kazakhstan native needs to quickly unify a disparate group of players.

“They have different experience of playing water polo,” Zagoruiko said last week, before his team departed for its annual August training camp in Lake Placid. “They come from different countries and different teams and I’m trying to determine where they will be most useful, what positions.”

One certainty is Veazey. The new St. Francis coach recognized the importance of his most experience player, named team captain for a second year.

“Liam is the key guy because he’s staying on the side [and he’s] responsible for the distribution of the ball,” Zagoruiko said. “He’s the main one to coordinate the movements of the team.”

Another Veazey will be a key contributor to the Terriers this year. Liam’s brother Jonas, a freshman, was cited as a “good defender” who will play significant minutes backing up Ilija Djuretic.

Given the Terriers’ short bench, newcomers Ognjen Antanaskovic (Serbia), Bogdan Kostic (Serbia), Nikita Prokhin (Canada), Rodrigo Siracusa (Brazil) and Nicholas Stoop (Texas) will be expected to contribute immediately.

It’s not just the roster that’s new in Brooklyn Heights; their coach is rethinking the way St. Francis plays.

Reasoning that “if you’re not ready to play against strong players of course you’re going to lose,” Zagoruiko is focused on conditioning to make his team competitive.

“The leading teams in the world…. They’re stronger, they’re moving, they’re more stable in the water,” he said. “They have stronger legs, they have a stronger shot and better techniques of possessing the ball.”

Zagoruiko’s solution? An emphasis on resistance training and new techniques — including passing and shooting drills using basketballs.

“The reason for basketballs,” he said, “is I prefer to work more with the ball so that the players feel more comfortable and improve their technique with shooting and passing. Their release is the most important thing.”

The changes have been endorsed by at least one member of St. Francis water polo alumni.

Bosko Stankovic ‘14, former All-American who was a key contributor to all three Terrier NCAA qualifiers, was effusive when asked about using basketballs in the water.

“Yeah, that’s crazy! I’ve never seen it before but it’s a great idea; they are heavier, bigger and you can’t grip ‘em which means you’ll have to work hard to learn how to control the ball. Brilliant!”

PHOTO CAPTION: St. Francis senior Liam Veazey in action