New York’s Hudson Valley Suits Cali Native Benson

An unlikely but understandable recruiting pipeline has emerged between Orange County, CA, and Poughkeepsie, NY, home of Marist College and its well-known new women’s water polo coach, Natalie Benson.

The former US Olympian, who took over the Red Foxes in September, recently secured the goalkeeping services of Jessica Hermosillo, who was a key member of Benson’s Huntington Beach club squad, a team that earned a spot in the 18 and under finals of last summer’s Junior Olympics tournament. Hermosillo will complete her prep career this year at Rosary High School in Fullerton, from where Benson graduated prior to her stellar UCLA career, and where she was Director of Admissions until departing for her new job 90 minutes north of Manhattan. By coincidence the new coach is joined by another former Royal, freshman Emma Tice, who selected Marist prior to Benson’s hiring.

The previous coach, Ashleigh Huckins, brought Tice to the New York school, but then resigned in June. Benson, who was acquainted with a Marist booster, knew the school was interested in her. They were impressed by the Olympic experience, her coaching of the US Cadet team and the rising power in Huntington Beach. Was she interested?

“I didn’t really consider it because it was far away. But my job wasn’t something I wanted in the long term. Maybe this is possibility,” said Benson in a phone interview.

The school caught her at an opportune moment. The Rosary position was full time. Add to it club practices two or three nights a week, weekend tournaments, two young children. Even with a supportive husband, a former Long Beach State poloist who also coached at Huntington Beach, the routine was exhausting.

“What are we doing? We have two kids at home and need to spend some time together. It’s not the way a family can be,” Benson recalled.

“My motto is ‘work really hard until you can’t do it any more.’ Now with two kids, I can’t work 14-hour days seven days a week.”

“We decided to taper off some of responsibility,” she said. The Marist job was “a chance to do what we love and to free up some time” for the family.

But an escape from her frenetic schedule wasn’t the only appeal.

“I thought about it: it’s a Division 1 school, has good academics, it’s a good place for my kids, an hour and fifteen minutes from New York City,”

And, the coach added tellingly, “It’s nearly an automatic bid to NCAAs.” That, based on Marist’s recent success winning the MAAC championship, which earned the champion a spot in the final tournament.

After an introductory visit with university officials in Northern California she accepted an invitation to visit bucolic Poughkeepsie, a town of 30,000, settled by the Dutch in the 17th century and bathed in colonial history. The California lifer was smitten.

“It’s beautiful up there. I love the outdoors and nature, all the trees and grass. The leaves are changing, it’s 65 degrees [in September]. It’s right on the Hudson River. There’s so much interesting architecture and history,” she said, contrasting it to her Southern Cal experience.

Marist offered and she accepted the job. Her husband, Eric, an accountant with a national auto rental firm, arranged a job transfer, making the transition even easier. Soon the frenzy of her Southern California schedule was supplanted by all the efforts that go into making a cross country move, from renting a house to getting her office set up.

Early fall practices went well upon her arrival. The athletes were “receptive” and “fun.”

“I’m very happy with the athletes,” she said. “They seem very close. They get along well and are excited to work hard.”

And it turns out no introduction was really necessary. Assuming her reputation had not preceded her, Benson shared some of her background with the team at their initial meetings.

“Yeah, we know who you are,” was their reply, said Benson. “They Google stalked me.” No boasting of past athletic and coaching prowess was necessary, as if the new coach was interested in such bluster anyway. The athletes already knew it all.

As for her goals for the upcoming season, “just make them better than last year.”

“Of course, we want to win the [MAAC] conference, not just be happy that we’re there.” Benson emphasized. But more importantly: “We’re going to be competitive.”

“That’s all I ask.”