Men's Water Polo: Princeton places third at Easterns

Following its 2009 NCAA appearance, the men's water polo team entered 2010 without the eight seniors who had lead them to the Final Four. Short five starters in a game that only puts seven players in the pool, Princeton seemed poised for a rebuilding year. In this midst of reconstructing their team, however, the Tigers came out strong, winning their first five division games and ending the regular season 6-2 in the Southern division and 19-8 overall. They took first place at the newly re-instated Ivy League Tournament in double overtime against Brown and placed third at Eastern Championships.

“I'll remember this team as having a lot of heart. We had a lot of come-from-behind victories and consistently over-performed after losing five starters from last year.” senior center defender Matt Hale said.

Hale, along with sophomore attack Tim Wenzlau, senior goalie Mike Merlone and freshman attack Kurt Buchbinder were all recognized as Southern Division Players of the Week throughout the fall. Merlone and Buchbinder each received the recognition three times over the course of the season. At the end of the year, Merlone was named the division's Most Valuable Player and Buchbinder was named Rookie of the Year.

“After starting off as a predicted underdog in the South after losing a good group of seniors last year, most of our opponents weren't expecting us to pose too much of a threat,” sophomore attacker Tommy Donahue said.

The Tigers proved themselves a formidable opponent when they defeated No. 13 Santa Clara on ESPNU in their second game of the season. Following this success, it became clear that they could not be counted out.

Against Johns Hopkins, Bucknell and Navy, which Princeton met on multiple occasions, the Tigers traded wins and losses. Princeton won in the Blue Jays' pool in double overtime on a goal by sophomore center Jack Ruth. The Tigers went 4-1 in five games against Bucknell, including the final victory to solidify their third place finish at Eastern Championships.

“Our team exceeded expectations in all areas of the game, including team leadership, chemistry, and in actual performance.” Buchbinder said. “It was great to play alongside my friends who were hitting their stride, and it was amazing to see what we achieved given that this was supposed to be a ‘rebuilding’ year. As a freshman on the team, I really appreciated having not only the upperclassmen to look up to but also having alumni come back and offer us guidance from start to finish.”

At the end of the season, Princeton dominated the All-South teams with more players than any other school. Merlone, Hale and Donahue were named to the first team and junior attack Chris Cottrell was named to the second team.

Looking forward, this past season may be a prelude for the success the team will find in the upcoming year. Junior center Mike Helou and Merlone agree that the team grew a lot and another NCAA tournament bid seems more than possible. A strong young team sets the Tigers up for another promising season.