In an important weekend for No. 6 men’s water polo (21–8 overall, 9–1 Northeast Water Polo Conference), the Tigers dominated their trip to Boston with wins over MIT (7–15, 1–9) and No. 15 Harvard (20–7, 9–1) and rounded off their trip with a close victory over No. 19 Brown (16–9, 6–4). Wrapping up their regular season strong, the Tigers will next look to the NWPC tournament at Denunzio Pool in two weeks time.
Tigers pull away from MIT in decisive victory
Princeton started off their Boston road trip strong, dropping 21 points on MIT Saturday morning in a convincing win. Coming into the weekend, two Tigers received recognition for their strong play: sophomore goalie Kristóf Kovács won NWPC Defensive Player of the Week and first-year utility Gavin Appeldorn won NWPC Rookie of the Week. On the Engineers side, MIT’s Adam Ivantorov won NWPC Player of the Week, setting the stage for an entertaining matchup.
In the first quarter, MIT was able to hang tight with Princeton, putting points on the board first. The Tigers responded with several goals, including scores from senior utility Isaac Rotenberg and first-year attacker Ádám Peocz. The offensive got everyone involved in the first, with six players finding the back of the cage within the first eight minutes of play.
From there, Princeton began to pull away. During the second quarter, Princeton went up 9–3 off of a powerful finish from senior defender and captain Vladan Mitrovic. Heading into half, the Tigers led 10–4.
In the third, Princeton continued to dominate the Engineers. Senior center George Caras led the charge, scoring three goals in the third. MIT was never able to recover, and Princeton walked away with a 21–14 win.
Revenge over Harvard in 13–9 win
In their last meeting with the Crimson, Princeton lost 17–16 in sudden death. However, coming into this crucial matchup in which Princeton and Harvard were vying for positioning atop the Ivy League, the Tigers came out guns blazing.
After just 18 seconds, sophomore utility Finn LeSieur found the back of the cage to put Princeton up early. On the following possession, Appeldorn hit a contested shot from post to make it 2–0.
Kovács did his job on the other end, blocking a Harvard shot. With around six minutes to play in the first, the Tigers drew an exclusion, leading to a Mitrovic goal after great ball movement around the pool. In barely any time, the Tigers were up 3–0.
“We came out with a lot of energy,” coach Dustin Litvak told The Daily Princetonian. “It always helps to score on your first possession. We were not satisfied with the result of our previous match with them and have been waiting for this opportunity for a while.”
Princeton was unable to score again in the quarter, but Kovács didn’t let Harvard close the gap. The sophomore stud shut out the Crimson in the first, and his effort was highlighted by several athletic saves and hand blocks.
“We knew the key for this game [was] to control Harvard’s offense,” Kovács explained. “Shutting them down in the first was a positive confirmation of our game plan, and it definitely helped, building our confidence going into the second quarter.”
Finally, with 5:18 to play in the second quarter, Harvard was able to get one past Kovács on a tricky bounce shot, making it 3–1. LeSieur answered right back with his second goal of the game to keep it a three point game.
After another Harvard goal, Princeton once again answered, this time with a goal from senior utility Mason Killion.
With 1:29 to play, Harvard scored on a powerplay, and heading into halftime, Princeton led 5–3.
Coming out of half, Princeton turned up the heat. The Tigers scored back-to-back-back goals to start the third quarter, making it 8–3. Notably, leading scorer and captain Roko Pozaric was not involved in the Tigers’ feeding frenzy.
“We’ve said all year that our depth is our strength,” coach Litvak explained. “We have won games earlier this year where Roko did not score at all. Obviously, he does so much more for us than just score goals, but if other teams are going to key in on him, which is understandable, we have full trust that everyone in the water can put the ball in the goal.”
Towards the end of the third, the Crimson began to gain a little momentum. After trading goals, Harvard scored two unanswered on consecutive possessions, making it 9–6 going into the fourth.
On the first possession of the fourth, junior utility Luke Johnston scored his second goal of the game with a side arm sling. Junior utility Logan McCarroll scored a little bit later, giving Princeton an 11–6 lead with seven minutes to play.
The Tigers defense held strong the rest of the game, and despite a few more scores, held Harvard under ten points.
“We scored plenty of goals against them last time, but we knew we needed to tighten up on defense,” coach Litvak told the ‘Prince.’ “We saw 2–3 things defensively we had to correct if we were going to put ourselves in a better position to get stops and I think we did that for the most part.”
With their 13–9 victory over Harvard, Princeton tied the Crimson’s in conference record and will host the NWPC Tournament at Denunzio Pool.
Princeton finishes off regular season with 16–12 victory over Brown
In their final game of the regular season, Princeton faced a solid Brown squad.
The Bears kept it close during the first quarter, and after the first eight minutes of play, it was tied at four.
The game stayed closely contested throughout the second, with both teams trading goals. However, when LeSieur connected on his third goal of the game to put Princeton up 7–6, the Tigers began to pull away. Scores from senior attacker Gavin Molloy, Mitrovic, and Pozaric, added to the momentum Princeton was gaining, and at half, the Tigers led 10–7.
Molloy came out of the locker room locked and loaded, scoring his second goal of the game less than 30 seconds into the half.
However, the rest of the third quarter was characterized by sloppy play and turnovers from both sides. With 3:34 to go in the quarter, Brown scored, bringing Princeton’s lead down to two.
With 2:36 to play, Appeldorn fought off his defenders to hit a ridiculous shot, making the score 12–9.
“During that play I was holding 4/5 side and telling Enrique [Nuño] to pass the ball down to Ádám at 5,” Appeldorn explained. “Then all of the sudden, I saw the ball coming towards me, so I just tried to shoot as I felt them try and push the ball under. [I] couldn’t get it off, but they stopped playing defense, so I just kept playing and threw the ball towards the net, and luckily, it all worked out.”
Then, with just 0.6 seconds left, LeSieur snuck a shot under the Bears’ goalkeeper’s arm for his fourth goal of the day, making it 13–10 heading into the final quarter. The shot capped off a great weekend for LeSieur during which he found the back of the cage six times.
“I happened to do a lot of scoring this weekend, but I know anyone on our team is capable of putting the ball in the net when we play good team water polo,” LeSieur told the ‘Prince.’ “If we continue to play this way, I am very optimistic about what the rest of the season will have in store for us.”
After pulling away in the last quarter, the final score was 16–12 in favor of Princeton.
On Friday, Nov. 22, the Tigers will be back at DeNunzio for the NWPC Tournament.
“We have to stay hungry and humble,” coach Litvak said. “I know it’s trite, but it’s true. We were extremely motivated in our trainings the past couple of weeks, knowing we had a chance to avenge a previous loss. I expect these next two weeks to be our best trainings all year as we are now playing to extend our season.”
Doug Schwartz is a Sports contributor and a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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