Jay O'Neil begins his ninth season as the Saint Francis University water polo coach after he was named the second water polo coach in team history in September of 2017. He enters the 2026 season needing 10 wins to reach 100 in Loretto and has 194 career wins. Â
Under his tutelage, four players have been named to the ACWPC All-American honorable mention team. Marialena Seletopoulou was the first player to earn this achievement in 2018, followed by Erin O’Neill (2020), Taylor Halbauer (2021, 2022), and Emese Szucs.
The Red Flash has posted 10+ wins in seven of his first eight seasons, including a program-record 14 wins in 2025, which broke the previous record of 13 victories in 2023. With a 19-10 win against Salem on April 12, 2025, Saint Francis registered its 100th win in program history.
Szucs became the first player in program history to earn CWPA Rookie of the Year honors in 2021 and is one of two players to earn all-conference honors twice. Szucs was named to the second team in 2021 and 2024, while Taylor Haubauer earned those distinctions in 2021 and 2023. Rosalinda Rivera and Addison Williams earned CWPA second-team honors in 2021 when the Red Flash took home a program-record four recognitions, while Caylah Olay (second team) and Isabel Lumley (honorable mention) are the latest Flash players to garner all-conference recognition.
Competing against teams like Michigan, Brown, Harvard, and Princeton in a highly competitive conference, Saint Francis has finished a program-best fifth in the postseason in 2022 and 2024.
O'Neil came to Loretto from Washington & Jefferson, where he coached the men's and women's water polo teams for four seasons. He led the Presidents to a combined record of 104-100, including an impressive 56-38 mark on the women's side, and earned the 2012 CWPA Women's Water Polo Coach of the Year honor.
O'Neil is a 1997 graduate of Bucknell, where he played four seasons with the Bison. Prior to his time at Washington & Jefferson, he had stops at his alma mater and at Salem International. He was also the aquatic director and head varsity swimming coach at Somerset Area High School for 10 years.
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