When people think of water polo, they don’t think of a small liberal arts school in the northeast. Yet, Poughkeepsie, New York, is home to one of the nation’s top water polo teams.
Marist water polo has a 22-woman roster with zero players from the northeast. There are eight international players on the team. Three years ago, junior goalie Inés Sánchez stepped on campus for the first time as a freshman with two players coming from outside the United States: herself and now senior attacker Rachel Dean.
Sánchez hails from Barcelona, Spain, a country with a tradition in water sports and a water polo hub.
“Spain usually has really strong teams, so it’s a big part of the culture. A lot of people enjoy it, but especially in Barcelona where I live,” said Sánchez.
Both her mother and father are swimmers themselves and her sister is a synchronized swimmer in Spain. Sánchez found her love for water polo while practicing with her sister and their synchronized swimming team at the age of eight.
“I used to see water polo practices while at the pool for swimming, and I would say ‘oh I want to try that,’ so I just tried it,” said Sánchez.
Sánchez continued both synchronized swimming and water polo for two years until her parents told her it was time to decide between the two – she chose water polo.
She joined clubs in her area and played on her high school team. Through her high school, Sánchez came to the U.S. via an exchange program in Michigan. She arrived during her sophomore year, taking a break from playing water polo and focusing on embracing the American culture that has always intrigued her.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, Sánchez’s time in Michigan was cut short.
“I had to go back really soon after I arrived,” said Sánchez. “I missed that opportunity to finish, and I said to myself I want to come back, so I did.”
Sánchez started her recruitment process late, unsure of where her water polo career would end up. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a connection from Meta Tarani, the club Sánchez trained with in Spain, introduced her to Marist head coach Chris Vidale. Vidale needed a last-minute goalie.
“We had a mutual friend [Sarah Lazotte], who is currently the assistant coach at UC San Diego. I know her just through water polo. We are a small community, and she played for me on my New York Athletics Club team,” said Vidale. “I reached out to Sarah and told her I need a goalie, we chatted, she asked me what I needed in a player and she said ‘I have the best one for you,’” said Vidale.
Once connected, Sánchez and Vidale met on Zoom a handful of times before her commitment – looking over film, meeting each other’s families and discussing what Sánchez’s life would look like in the U.S. Sanchez wanted to come back to the states, which worked out perfectly for Vidale and his team.
“Chris [Vidale] and Marist gave me a real structure which gave me exactly what I needed, so I just went for it,” said Sánchez.
Moving nearly 4,000 miles from home to Poughkeepsie was an exciting but nerve-wracking prospect for Sánchez. First came the shock of adjusting to an American dorm room, then the challenge of being so far from her family back in Spain.
For freshman year housing, Sánchez lived with tennis player Cloe Clements Sorde, who is also from Barcelona. Having someone in the same position helped Sánchez adjust when first coming to Poughkeepsie. Now, the two also have a new friend to hang out with when they return to Spain.
As for the water polo team itself, the connections Sánchez has made through the program will stick with her forever. The Red Foxes provided Sánchez with a new family.
“The team was everything; they feel like a family environment, and that helped,” said Sánchez.
With the addition of six new international players on the team since Sánchez’s freshman season, she is honored to help everyone else out with the adjustment to college life.
“You know what they are going through, like when everyone for Thanksgiving goes back home and you just are [all] there,” said Sánchez.
Vidale finds ways to make his players comfortable with team bonding exercises, given the range of places his roster originates from.
“Every Wednesday we meet as a group, last year we did these TED Talks and you would tell us something about your family or culture,” said Vidale. “It’s about making the world smaller, it’s showing each other that we’re all human and bringing joy through our sport.”
When reflecting on her water polo career thus far, the things that stands out to Sánchez are not the personal accolades of preseason All-MAAC and MAAC preseason co-goaltender of the year but the relationships she has built. All of Sánchez’s best friends have come from her teammates.
“She gels with everybody on the team. Everybody enjoys being around and hanging out with her, her smile and personality. Once she knows the group and everything she is annoyingly fun and charming,” said Vidale.
“Our personalities [on the team] are very different, but at the same time, we spend so much time together traveling and in the water, it’s cool to see how we build these connections,” said Sánchez.
Throughout her time at Marist, Sánchez has become a leader and the backbone of the team. Ending the 2024 season as a superior all-academic, ACWPC All-American Honorable Mention and MAAC All-Championship team member.
As of March 2025, Sánchez leads the MAAC with 160 saves and a .485% save percentage during her junior season, as well as two MAAC defensive player of the week awards.
“There are saves where you kind of just take a step back, and you’re like how the f— did you get that?” said Vidale.
Sánchez’s unique athleticism stems from her history in synchronized swimming. By perfecting that eggbeater motion, Sánchez can be mobile and graceful in seven-foot deep water.
Sánchez’s athleticism “raises the level of everything that we’re trying to do,” said Vidale. “They are all trying to play at the highest level, and I think they feed off of that competition and camaraderie. They are all going after the cohesive goal of trying to win a conference championship.”
The Red Foxes were a goal away from bringing home that MAAC title last year after losing to Wagner 8-9. Sánchez played every minute of the championship game, ending the game with nine saves.
From an eight-year-old synchronized swimmer once mesmerized by water polo practice in Barcelona to a collegiate Division I athlete in New York, Sánchez is pushing to reach a MAAC title.
Edited by August Lieberman and Marley Pope
Graphic by Raegan Van Zandt; Photos from Marist Athletics
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