Five months ago, freshman Samantha Bentley was at the World Aquatics Women’s U20 Water Polo Championship in Portugal. Now she has arrived at Marist preparing to bring a MAAC conference championship to Poughkeepsie.
Bentley is a freshman utility player from Auckland, New Zealand. She began playing water polo at the age of 10 following her older brother’s influence.
“I obviously looked up to him, so I wanted to play and then from there just joined my local club and it has just kind of been that from there on,” said Bentley.
Her love for water polo and competition grew almost immediately as she stepped foot in the pool. Joining the New Zealand 2004 squad when she was 14, Bentley remained a key component of the team throughout the years.
“As the years go on, the squad gets cut down. Throughout the year we had lots of camps, got narrowed down further, then went to Melbourne to do test matches against Australia and then eventually the team list came out and I was fortunate to be selected,” said Bentley.
The U20 New Zealand national team roster consists of only 15 players, including Bentley herself. This past September while the team was at the World Aquatics Championship, she showed why she deserves to be on the roster.
Bentley and the New Zealand national team (the Kiwis) earned themselves a top-eight position, the best of any team in the Commonwealth. Bentley ended the tournament with eight goals, three of them coming from New Zealand’s classification round win over Brazil (13-10). The team made it into the quarterfinals where they lost to Hungary, eventual gold medalists.
Bentley brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to this Red Fox team, “Being able to have a higher-level athlete always makes your life easier because you can get down to more tactics versus the development,” said head coach Chris Vidale.
Not only is Bentley on the U20 national team, but she is also a part of the New Zealand national developmental squad. Being on the developmental squad allows Bentley to train with athletes who have been on the biggest stages in water polo.
“Playing with them just means learning new skills, learning a new way of playing, being pushed to different limits, playing a more physical game. So, it’s definitely a benefit,” said Bentley.
Water Polo has opened doors for Bentley that wouldn’t be imaginable if not for the sport.
“Water Polo allowed me to come to America and get a higher education,” said Bentley.
Bentley chose to come to Marist for a multitude of reasons, through her New Zealand national coaches’ connections to Vidale, fellow New Zealander Rachel Dean, a junior attacker who plays at the same club as Bentley back home, and the overall culture of Marist.
Bentley becomes the third player from New Zealand on the Red Foxes roster. Coming to the United States means that she must adjust and learn a new style of play.
“Coming from a different country, different style, the USA process, not to say it’s more organized, but it’s just that we have a different style. And so, she’s using what she learned and diving into our style of learning a completely different position system, the numbers, and all the fun stuff,” said Vidale.
The United States’ different approach to water polo is taking Bentley some time to get used to. She played in her first tournament as a Red Fox in San Diego this past weekend.
“I think she’s a little nervous seeing what the college game is bringing her and right now she just needs to go back to being a world championship Samantha. Dropping bombs on the three Gs’ and we need that to happen here,” said Vidale.
Despite the different styles of play and the college nerves, Bentley still nailed a goal in her first appearance, contributing to the Red Foxes’ first win against Whittier College.
“I think I’m playing a bit nervous at the moment and still trying to adjust to the different playing style and stuff over here. But as a team, I think we’re gelling together and learning how each other play and stuff like that, I think that will help us become successful,” said Bentley.
Bentley ended the UCSB tournament with two goals and one assist and is looking to improve this weekend when the team travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Wolverine Invitational.
Edited by Ben Leeds and Marley Pope
Photo Credit: @marist_waterpolo
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