Men's Water Polo: Tigers sweep thrilling weekend

This weekend, the men’s water polo team found its stride, winning three straight games against Bucknell, Johns Hopkins and Navy in overtime. Now ranked first in the Southern Division, Princeton (14-7 overall, 5-2 CWPA Southern) is proving to be the team to beat.

On Sunday night, the Tigers played their second overtime game of the weekend against Navy. In overtime, senior center Mike Helou scored the go-ahead goal, putting pressure on Navy to score. With the clock ticking down and only seconds left to play, sophomore goalie Ben Dearborn made two clutch consecutive saves to secure the Princeton win.

In September, Princeton headed down to Annapolis amd beat the Midshipmen in overtime. To defend that win, the Tigers needed a spectacular defense and the confidence to come back from behind, which is just what they brought to the table.

Navy came out to a strong start. Firing off shots and taking advantage of every opportunity the Tigers handed them, the Midshipmen created a three-goal margin. Princeton, despite many attempts, could not find the back of the cage. With two goals in the last two and a half minutes from freshman center Thomas Nelson, the Tigers ended the first quarter 2-4.

Not frustrated or deterred, the Tigers started the second quarter with another two goals in the opening two and a half minutes. Freshman attack Drew Hoffenberg first assisted junior attack Tim Wenzlau, then quickly found the net with an assist from sophomore attack Kurt Buchbinder. Now tied at 4-4, Dearborn set Princeton up for the win. With three huge blocks, he proved Princeton’s defense to be a formidable force and held the game even going into the second half.

Coming out strong again, Navy took the lead 16 seconds into the third quarter. Still fighting for the win, Wenzlau found the back of the cage with help from Nelson to even the score. With another big save from Dearborn and a goal off a penalty shot by Hoffenberg, the Tigers took their first lead. Navy then answered the challenge with two goals; however, Hoffenberg evened the score to 7-7.

Entering the final quarter tied, Princeton’s defensive game continued to stand out. Key field blocks and steals kept the Tigers in the game. Wenzlau netted another goal for the lead, only to have Navy score on the next possession. Trying to create a lead, Helou scored Princeton’s last goal of regulation time on a counter attack with an assist from freshman attack Sam Butler. However, again, Navy scored on the next possession to tie the game. Fighting to prevent an overtime game, both the Tigers and the Midshipmen tried to seal a win with a shot on goal in the final seconds of the game. Both missed and regulation time ended tied at 9-9.

With both teams playing strong defense, it seemed that the first overtime period would end scoreless. However, in the last 16 seconds, Helou fought his way to the goal and found the back of the cage. Playing down to the wire, with 27 seconds on the clock in the second overtime period, Navy had possession of the ball and a chance to win. In the last 10 seconds, Navy took a huge shot on goal. Dearborn blocked the attempt, but sent the ball right back to the shooter’s hand. Taking another hard shot off the rebound, Navy again tried to find the back of the cage, but this time Dearborn both blocked and held the ball to end the game 10-9.

On Friday night, the Tigers had another chance against Bucknell. The Saturday before, the Bison had won 10-6 in DeNunzio Pool. Both teams had traded one-goal leads, but Bucknell took the win after creating the first two-goal lead and holding Princeton off in the fourth quarter. This Friday, however, the Tigers proved that they had the mental toughness to beat the Bison.

Traveling down to Lewisburg, the teams faced off in Kinney Natatorium. A near-capacity crowd of Bison fans added an extra spark to the game. “I love it when everyone is against you. It is hard not to be excited,” head coach Luis Nicolao said.

Similar to last Saturday, Princeton entered the fourth quarter down by one goal. Again Bucknell lengthened out to a two-goal lead, but this time the Tigers kept their heads in the game and withstood the run, scoring twice to tie the game at 6-6.

“We were definitely more mentally prepared to play,” Nicolao said. “There was a lot more intensity, and we played more aggressively.”

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Entering the first overtime period with renewed energy, both teams scored two goals. Still tied with just over a minute left in the second overtime period, Wenzlau netted his fourth goal of the game for the win.

After proving the previous weekend’s loss to be a fluke, Princeton returned to DeNunzio Pool to avenge their prior loss to Johns Hopkins and defend the overtime win against Navy.

Earlier in the season, Princeton lost to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The Blue Jays had won with a goal at the buzzer. This time, however, the Tigers took the lead a little over a minute into the game and never looked back. Down by a five-goal margin at the half, Johns Hopkins never had a chance. When asked about the difference between the two games against Blue Jays, Nicolao simply said, “the pool.” The Blue Jays play in a 25-yard shallow-deep pool, and one of Princeton’s assets is a deep team of strong swimmers.

“We have a really young team this year, but everyone is stepping up. We are working as a unit,” sophomore goalie Tyler Amina said. “The freshmen this year are very strong offensively, but defense is still our strength. The team makes my job really easy. The ball rarely gets to me.”

“It is nice to get back in the water,” Dearborn said. “I take no credit for that game at all. My team was in front of me the whole time supporting me.” Dearborn tallied 14 saves at Bucknell and 18 saves against Navy, prompting hugs, pats on the back and cheers of “Ben is the man” from his teammates and coaches.

This weekend, Princeton will host George Washington University, Fordham University and Iona College.