Maria Sell: A beast back East

Three games into Sell’s freshman season, however, in the spring of 2020, COVID restrictions hit, the rest of the season was canceled and Sell was essentially adrift. The 2021 season came along and the college decided against having a season as a precaution.

Fast forward two years and Sell’s new passion for the sport helped her rediscover the player that became one of the best in San Mateo County and helped her become one of the best players on the East Coast. During the CWPA tournament in Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, Sell was awarded the CWPA Division III East Region Most Valuable Player honor following a season in which she scored 78 goals, highlighted by a 12-goal performance during the tournament.

“It was a big surprise (to receive the award), considering how our season was going,” said Sell, who wrapped up her junior season this past weekend.

Individual accolades while playing for a losing team

While Sell was hugely successful individually, the Camels suffered through a disappointing season, going just 2-6 in CWPA matches and 3-13 overall. Despite the team’s history and reputation, Sell believes the pandemic really took its toll on the team. She said this year there were only about four players who had any previous water polo experience and of those, three missed significant time with injuries throughout the season. Sell said those on the team went around campus to drum up interest to help fill out the roster.

“The last two years we’ve gotten one recruit. The lack of recruiting affected us. Our school was very restrictive with COVID,” Sell said. “We did recruiting on campus. We had kids who had experience with swimming. … This was literally their first year of polo.”

Given the fact that all three Conn wins were against the same Utica University team, Sell was certainly caught off guard when informed she had won the award.

“During the first couple of tournaments, teams that were beating us were getting Player of the Game and Player of the Week (honors) and we weren’t getting anything, even though we were putting in our best efforts,” Sell said. “It showed that even though we were losing games, I was still putting up goals and assists.”

She even scored goals while playing in goal. Sell, for the first time in her career, played in “the cage,” a polo term for the goal, getting a total of four quarters over the course of the season.

Sell she had not played there since she was a little kid, but playing in goal did not prevent her from scoring goals. Because of a change in the rules, Sell said goalies are now allowed to venture further up the pool and get more into the attack. Given her lethal outside shot, she more than once caught opposing defenses and goalies off guard, to the tune of six strikes.

And more importantly to Sell, she did not concede a goal.

Sell certainly solidified the player of the year honor by setting a new CWPA tournament scoring record in the match after being named player of the year. She gave the Camels a quick 3-0 lead against Penn State-Behrend. While PSB went on to rally for a 19-15 victory, Sell certainly did her part, tallying a dozen goals in the game.

“It was one of those games I was just in a groove,” Sell said.

Rediscovering a love for the sport

From the outside, it was a happy ending to otherwise miserable season, one during which Sell questioned if she wanted to keep going.

“There were peaks and valleys. It was hard starting the season on a high note and then having to reframe our idea of ‘team’ every single tournament. … It was hard to keep working,” Sell said.

But it was Sell’s time away from the game those two COVID years that reignited the love of the game for her. She finished out her freshman year of classes remotely at home in San Mateo, but returned to campus in the fall of 2020 — only to continue distance learning. By that time, she was mentally fried and when the school decided not to play a water polo season in the spring of 2021, Sell decided to take the semester off.

“My coach was worried if I took a semester off, I might not come back,” Sell said.

Instead, Sell got into coaching. She coached swimming and water polo at both Burlingame High School and the Burlingame Aquatic Club. She even started playing masters-level water polo at BAC — playing against mostly men.

It was that experience, away from college ball, that made her fall in love with the sport all over again.

“I got more water polo experience coaching and playing masters,” Sell said. “I learned more about the sport through coaching it more than I would have gotten out of those spring practices (at Conn in 2021).”

And while Sell admits she did have thoughts about maybe transferring from Conn, she ultimately decided to return to the Camels to finish what she started.

“I would feel bad committing to this team and then saying, ‘You know what? I’m going to find somewhere else to go,’” Sell said. “The COVID restrictions at Conn were really hard, but I’m glad I made the decision to come back. I couldn’t see myself with any other team.”

Better times ahead

Sell is expecting her senior season to be even better than this year as the women on the 2022 squad will have a year of experience under their belts and Sell said the Camels are expecting to bring in some recruits.

But as far as clinging to the sport, Sell seems to have already mapped out the end of her college career. Because of COVID, Sell still has two years of eligibility left but, at this point, doesn’t anticipate using it. She is scheduled to graduate the spring of 2023 and already has plans for her post-graduate life as she works her way into the world of college admissions and outreach.

The coaching and adult-league play showed Sell that she can still be involved in the game without having to play at the highest level possible. She hasn’t ruled out returning to the pool if she continues with graduate school, but knowing she can continue in the game well after her college career won’t make her cling to college ball as long as possible.

“ I do want to continue coaching,” said Sell, who will be back at BAC this summer to do just that. “That I can do hand in hand with education. I think playing in college isn’t the end of water polo for me.”