Women's Water Polo: Team splits weekend, next plays Eastern Championships

The No. 17 Tigers (16-10 overall, 3-1 Southern Division) traveled to Eppley Natatorium to play the Terps (17-13, 4-0) on Saturday and Brown University (9-15, 1-3) on Sunday. After falling to Maryland 7-5 and defeating Brown 6-5, the Tigers are likely to receive the No. 5 seed for the Eastern Championships in Indiana, where they will play for an NCAA Tournament bid.

“We’re doing more team bonding sorts of things,” freshman center defender Katie Rigler said. “We need to be mentally focused and in the right mindset to win.”

The Tigers kept themselves in the game against Maryland early on, finishing the first half with the score tied 2-2. In the second half, however, the Terps outscored the Tigers by one point in each quarter to seal the win.

Princeton went 3-for-7 in man advantage situations, which accounted for more than half its goals in the loss. Maryland, however, could not capitalize on any of its man advantages, going 0-for-7. Princeton’s defensive success was due to junior goalie Kristen Ward, who tallied five saves during man-down situations.

This loss ended Princeton’s three-game winning streak. Rigler, Princeton’s highest scorer in the game, netted two goals but missed the penalty shot.

“It was just one of those days where nothing was going in,” Rigler said. “It just wasn’t offensively flowing for our team.”

After defeating Brown 12-1 earlier in the season, the Tigers were not expecting such a close rematch. Brown limited Princeton to a one-goal lead at the end of the first quarter, tied the game after two periods and went ahead early in the second half.

“We started off the same as against Maryland, so at the end of the first quarter we got together and did a cheer and pumped each other up,” Rigler said.

The cheer worked, as the Tigers fought back to net two goals while holding the Bears scoreless in the final quarter to solidify the comeback victory.

Because Princeton may be playing Maryland again in the first round of the Eastern Championships, which begin this Friday, the Tigers will be looking back to this weekend’s games to find ways to reverse Saturday’s result.

“We’re pretty confident that we can win,” Rigler said.