The men’s water polo team faces No. 1-ranked Southern California in the first game of the NCAA national championships this Saturday in Berkeley, Calif. In their fourth-ever NCAA appearance, this will be the first time that the Tigers have teammates who have been to the national championships before.
The men’s water polo team is the 2011 CWPA Eastern champion. To reach the finals, the Tigers defeated returning champion St. Francis 13-11 in overtime. Playing against Navy for the title, Princeton won 10-7 to earn a spot in the Final Four at the NCAA Tournament in Berkeley, Calif.
This weekend will showcase the best of East Coast collegiate men’s water polo. As the Tigers head up to Boston for Eastern Championships, they will play not only for glory, but also for an extension of their postseason. This tournament, hosted by Harvard, will be the season’s last for all teams except the Eastern Champion, which will represent the coast at NCAA Championships.
The best way to describe East Coast water polo is inconsistent, and this year has been no exception. Despite ending the regular season atop the league standings, the men’s water polo team finished the season in second place after losing 16-5 to Brown at the Ivy League Championships. The Tigers then went 2-1 this weekend at Southern Championships, No. 15 Princeton will enter Eastern Championships as the Southern Division’s No. 2 seed.
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 Saturday, after playing away for a month, the No. 13 men’s water polo team opened DeNunzio’s doors for a homecoming game against No. 19 Bucknell. The last time these two teams met was last season, during the Eastern Championships at Bucknell, where Princeton won by one goal. But this time, back in Tiger territory, the Bison took control of the game in the fourth quarter and won 10-6.
Last week, the men’s water polo team trekked across the country to challenge some of the best teams in college water polo under the California sun. Landing first in Los Angeles, No. 14 Princeton took on No. 11 Loyola Marymount University and No. 1 University of Southern California. The Tigers then headed south to Long Beach for the annual SoCal Tournament. Only playing against higher-ranked teams, the Tigers went 1-5 for the weekend, beating Long Beach State 8-4 for their lone win of the weekend.
