Women's Water Polo: Terps top Princeton in ranked matchup

This coming Friday night at 7 p.m., the Tigers will play the last game of the regular season against No. 19 Hartwick College at DeNunzio Pool.

Leaving in the early afternoon on Friday for Washington D.C., the Tigers made a pit stop at the White House before beating GW in a decisive night match. The Tigers overcame an early 4-2 deficit with a 7-1 second-quarter run before coasting to the final score, 13-9.

After some celebratory cupcakes courtesy of freshman attack Cece Coffey’s mother and a visit from water polo alumna Tanya Wilcox ’11, the Tigers retired to prepare for their game against the University of Maryland the next morning.

Due to the change of the start time from 10 to 8 a.m., the Tigers arrived at the pool and rushed through their warm-up. This, however, didn’t leave Princeton rattled. The Tigers lined up for their game ready to go.

From the start, Princeton had trouble finding its groove in the offensive end of the pool, a recurring problem for the Tigers. Their defense has generally been consistent, but they often have trouble finding the back of the goal at the beginning of games. Usually, it isn’t until the second half that the Tigers hit their stride.

In Princeton’s last 9-8 win over Harvard, the Tigers had another slow offensive start. While they ended the first quarter down 3-1 and the half 6-3, the Tigers’ offensive plays came together in the third and fourth quarters of the game. On that day, Princeton found the goals they needed for the win in the second half of the game.

Just like against Harvard, the Tigers struggled to find the back of the cage in the first half on Saturday against Maryland. At the end of the first quarter, the Tigers were held scoreless, 2-0, and by the end of the half, the Tigers trailed 4-1. Sophomore utility Katie Rigler scored the only Princeton goal on the board.

In the third quarter, the Tigers still searched for offensive cohesion. The plays did not come together, and with a minute left in the third period, Princeton trailed 7-1.

Although it was too little too late, the Tigers hit their stride and fought back to put a scare into the Terrapins. With goals from freshman utility Camille Hooks and sophomore utility Molly McBee in the last 45 seconds of the third quarter, the Tigers entered the final quarter 7-3.

From there, junior attack Rachele Gyorffy and freshman utility Jessie Holechek both tallied goals. With 36 seconds on the clock, Rigler found the back of the cage to bring the score to 7-6.

After her goal, however, the Terps carefully ran down the clock to end the game. Princeton mustered a desperate shot from the far end of the pool, but it was blocked as time expired. This marked the fourth consecutive loss to University of Maryland for Princeton.

On Friday at 7 p.m. in DeNunzio, the Tigers will face Hartwick. This will be their last home game of the season and their last game before Southern Championships and Eastern Championships.