Wagner College women's water polo team playing polo outlet.

But that where the 19 year old found herself last weekend while Wagner was defeating host Marist 9 7 for the MAAC tourney title.Lundgren, a star center on the Seahawks NCAA Tournament bound 25 11 team, was raised in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. That 9,627 air miles from New York City, and even farther than that in terms of its general feel.Her only experiences with America were a trip to Disneyland as a youngster and another to a family funeral in New Jersey.polo outlet This week, along with everyone else involved with the school women water polo team, Lundgren been making hurried final arrangements before heading to Bloomington, Ind., where the Seahawks will meet the No. 12 ranked Indiana Hoosiers Saturday in an NCAA tournament play in game.And, no, Bloomington doesn resemble home any more than Staten Island does.grew up where you walked out of the house and you were on the beach, was the way Lundgren explained the contrast. was my front yard.Picture something like Tahiti or the out islands of Hawaii, then attach it to the northeast coastline of Australia, and you have something of the idea of Sunshine Coast.massive transition, the MAAC tournament MVP said of living on Grymes Hill. I knew about New York City I learned from watching American movies.Lundgren is not the only foreign born player in the Wagner water polo program, one of only 10 teams to earn NCAA bids.Fourth year head coach Chris Radmonovich also has a pair of New Zealanders and a Canadian on his roster.There are five Californians, too.Not one player is from the tri state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, however.Radmonovich goes where the players are.Since Pennsylvania is the nearest state to Staten Island with a healthy high school water polo program, the former University of Houston star looks in that direction first.And how does a small budget program at a school with limited resources manage to recruit from as far away as Jess Lundgren beachside hometown on the other side of the globe?approach we take is that we recruit from anywhere, says the 35 year old Radmonovich. when you talking about players in New Zealand and Australia, I don go there. I coached in New Zealand, so I have friends. I have to take their word.That how Lundgren wound up on Grymes Hill, sight unseen.was playing in a league in Queensland and one of Coach friends saw me, said Lundgren. was invited, and I decided coming to Wagner was what I wanted to do. SETTERHow has it worked out, so far, this move from a picturesque beach town in the South Pacific to one of the largest cities on the map?been crazy but awesome, Lundgren says. came from a place where everyone you met knew someone who you knew. Here, the city is so vast and different. The shops, the people, the atmosphere, it been great.Geography hasn been the only difference. There have also been some playing adjustments for Lundgren.game here is definitely different from the way we play back home, she said. are some things I had to learn about the rules and style of play, but I got a lot of encouragement from my teammates and that helped.polo outlet The differences haven been enough to slow down the all conference selection.Lundgren set a school record in steals this year, and tied with teammate Jessica Burdge in goals scored, with 103.Along with being a conference first team selection and the tourney MVP, she was the MAAC defensive player of the year.