Men's water polo enjoys successful weekend

This Sunday, the Princeton men’s water polo team (13-6 overall, 4-1 Northeast Water Polo Conference) handily defeated both No. 16 George Washington University (9-5) and Navy (6-10). The Tigers, formerly No. 14 in the country according to a Collegiate Water Polo Association poll, have moved up to No. 13 after a successful past weekend of play, which featured wins against MIT (4-8, 0-5), Iona College (7-12), and No. 15 Brown (12-6, 4-1), and also a tough 8–7 loss to then No. 8 Harvard (13-3, 3-2). This Sunday, however, Princeton experienced no such close matches; they defeated George Washington 15-8 and Navy 12-7 at home in DeNunzio Pool.

In the George Washington game, sophomore driller Matt Payne led the team with five goals and two assists. Senior utility Jovan Jeremic scored three times for a hat trick. Princeton’s smart offensive plays were matched by their defense, which completely shut out the Colonials for five minutes and 29 seconds during the second quarter. Senior goalie Vojislav Mitrovic aided this stellar defense with nine saves.

Just hours after victory over George Washington, the Tigers came back in an equally dominant showing against the Naval Academy. Within the first 39 seconds of the game, Navy managed to score, but Princeton quickly rallied, scoring the next four points. During one eight-minute period, the Tigers managed to put away five goals while preventing Navy from scoring at all. Freshman center Sean Duncan and sophomore utility Ryan Wilson topped the charts with three goals apiece, while freshman driller Evan Elig and Payne each had two assists. It was in the fourth quarter that Mitrovic shone: in eight minutes, he made six of his total fifteen saves.

The dominant wins this past weekend bode well for the Tigers’ ranking for the coming week; though Navy was unranked, George Washington was listed as No. 16 in the nation. Such a convincing defeat of the Colonials is sure to maintain or perhaps increase Princeton’s own ranking. Currently, the top eight spots in the rankings belong to California schools, which have been historically dominant in water polo. Four of the Tigers’ six defeats have come against California teams, including to No. 1 UCLA (19-0).

Coming games may prove to be a challenge for Princeton; the team will be traveling to Cambridge for the Crimson Invitational, where they will face New York Athletic Club and No. 9 Bucknell (12-2). In 2015, the Tigers defeated the Bison all three times they clashed, including an 11-7 victory during the first round of the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championships, which Princeton went on to win. If this weekend mirrors the last, the team will be in excellent shape heading into the tail end of their season.