Men's Water Polo: Tigers sweep host tournament

Amid the flurry of students returning for the start of the fall semester, the No. 17 men’s water polo team began its 2011 season by hosting the annual Princeton Invitational. By beating No. 13 Santa Clara, Fordham, Harvard, Brown and MIT, the Tigers started the year with a perfect 5-0 record.

On Friday night, Princeton played its season opener against Santa Clara (4-3). ESPNU took over part of DeNunzio Pool, broadcasting the game live with commentary. Adding excitement to the stands, the Princeton football team came dressed in orange and black, commandeered a section and led chants and cheers throughout the game. A tiger mascot made its way around the pool deck as DeNunzio was filled with parents, students, freshmen groups and local water polo players.

Freshman attacker Sam Butler described the season opener as the best introduction to Princeton and collegiate water polo possible. "It was a really intense game. Getting the win in front of all the fans was as an awesome feeling," he said. "And knowing that friends and family across the country were able to watch it happen live was unbelievable. It was the perfect welcome to college and an experience I'll remember the rest of my life."

The men’s water polo team did not disappoint its fans. Less than three minutes into the opener, junior attacker Tommy Donahue scored the first goal, which was immediately followed by the crowd’s rendition of Ole. Not going down without a fight, Santa Clara scored on a man-advantage to even the score, but that was the visitors' only goal of the first half. Holding the Broncos scoreless through the second quarter while tallying two more goals, Princeton closed out the half with a 3-1 edge.

The Tigers held that lead for the rest of game. Trading goals back and forth, Princeton never pulled away by more than three goals, and Santa Clara brought the score to 6-5 early in the fourth quarter. But Princeton finished the game strong for a 9-6 win.

Following Friday’s tough match, the hosts easily defeated Fordham (2-6) and Harvard (3-3) on Saturday. Against the Rams, the Tigers created an eight-goal lead before their opponents made it onto the scoreboard. Later that day, the Tigers almost shut out the Crimson, holding a 12-0 lead in the fourth quarter before Harvard scored twice in the final minutes for a 13-2 final score.

Sunday morning, the Tigers had to fight hard for a win against Brown (2-4). The Bears came out strong, scoring in the first 20 seconds of the game. The next goal came halfway through the period from sophomore attack Kurt Buchbinder. On a level playing field once again, Brown took the lead by finding the back of the cage on a man-advantage and brought the score to 2-1.

However, Princeton finished the quarter by scoring twice, both in man-advantage situations, to end the first quarter up 3-2. The Tigers maintained a one or two goal lead through the half and never trailed again, building a four-score lead after the break and winning 11-6.

Later that afternoon, Princeton had another easy game against MIT. The Tigers took a six-goal lead before the Engineers first found the back of the cage.

At the end of the tournament, head coach Luis Nicolao summed up the weekend as a great opportunity to play everyone. “I was really happy with our defensive effort; I thought everybody played well," he said. "It was also great to see our freshmen adjust so well in their first weekend of games.”