While spring semester society sports are dominated by basketball and volleyball, minor sports such as water polo are sometimes forgotten.

Water polo pits two teams of seven against each other, each side consisting of six field players and one goalkeeper.

All field players play both offense and defense with the intent of throwing the ball into their opponents’ goal.

Players must throw and catch the ball with only one hand while treading water in a unique style of kicking where the swimmer’s legs alternate one-legged breaststroke kicks, called the “eggbeater kick.”

The creation of the game, orginally called “aquatic football,” is generally credited to Scottish swimming teacher William Wilson in 1877.

The game was first played in the United States in 1888.

Originally, water polo players rode on floating barrels that resembled mock horses and swung at the ball with mallet-like sticks.

The game was named “water polo” since this  method of play slightly resembled equestrian polo.

By the late 1890s, the sport attracted crowds of up to 14,000 to national championship games at prominent sporting venues such as Madison Square Garden.

Fighting between players was common until 1897 when  American rules for play were formed to curb violence.

The game has been an Olympic sport since the Paris Games in 1900 and has traditionally been dominated by European countries.

The women’s societies compete in a water polo season that is just over a month long, starting in the end of January and ending in the beginning of March.

At the end of the regular season, there are only two teams that remain undefeated— the Pi Delta Classics and the Pi Delta Classics 2 team, both with a 5-0 record.

The Classics have had a very successful and impressive season and have shut out their opponents in four of their five regular season games, their smallest victory being by seven points.

The only game where they allowed the other team to score was against the Classics’ 3 team, which they won 5-3.

The Classics will hold their first playoff game of the season against the Theta Delta Omicron Tigers this Saturday.

Outside of the Classics, another team that has done well in water polo is the Theta Mu Theta Bandits.

The Bandits are in second place in their division behind the Classics 2 team with a 2-2 record at the end of the regular season.

The Bandits had an impressive 5-4 win against the Beta Epsilon Chi Cardinals in the regular season and also had some tough losses to the Classics 2 team and the Chi Theta Upsilon Gators.

The Bandits will play in the water polo playoffs this week.

Their first game will be Saturday against the Cardinals, who will be out to avenge their regular season loss.