Capping a strong season, the no. 4-seeded Princeton Tigers (22-4) prepare to take on the no. 5-seeded UC San Diego Tritons (14-13) in the opening round of the men’s water polo NCAA tournament championships. The winner of the match will head to the semifinal round to face returning NCAA champions and no. 1-seeded UCLA. This is the fifth NCAA tournament appearance for Princeton since 1992 (the fourth since the program’s inception); the previous best finish by the team had been third in 2009 and 2011.
The Tigers secured their berth in the tournament with a compelling display in the CWPA tournament. Princeton defeated Bucknell 11-7 and avenged an earlier loss to Harvard in the Ivy League Championships to face Johns Hopkins in the tournament championship, where a grueling 7-6 battle secured the CWPA championship for the Tigers.
The no. 5-seeded Tritons struggled for much of the start of their season, ultimately finishing 14-13. However, they put up a strong performance in the WWPA conference tournament, defeating Santa Clara and Air Force before upsetting a heavily favored UC Davis squad, clinching them a spot in the tournament. Princeton’s overall record against UC San Diego is 3-6; however, earlier this season, the Tigers defeated the Tritons 12-9 in the Kap7 NorCal Invitational. Princeton has also previously defeated UC San Diego in the NCAA tournament (9-7 in the 2011 third-place game).
The Tigers will continue to rely on its strong performance across the pool to oust UC San Diego. Sophomore goalie Vojislav Mitrovic has been stellar this year; his 293 saves this season, including 20 against Harvard in CWPA semifinal and Johns Hopkins in the Southern Conference championships, are a school record. As a sophomore, his 546 saves are the third most by any Princeton goalie. Mitrovic’s save percentage of 69.6 percentearned him a CWPA Most Valuable Player of the Tournament award and a spot on the all-Southern Conference first team.
Offensively, the Tigers rely on a versatile and well-balanced squad that has placed an emphasis on collaborative play. Seven Tigers have scored at least 10 goals and had at least 10 assists in the 2015 season, a testament to Princeton’s strength across the board. The lynchpin of the high-powered Tigers offense is senior center Tommy Nelson, who has scored an impressive 70 goals this season. Nelson’s domineering play in the CWPA tournament, including 10 goals and 5 steals, earned him the CWPA Player of the Year Award. Freshmen Ryan Wilson, Michael Swart and Matt Payne, sophomore Jordan Colina, junior Jovan Jeremic and senior Jamie Kuprenas have also all recorded over 10 goals this season. Wilson also leads the team in assists with 37, while Kuprenas has attained 94 career assists, the fourth most in Princeton history.
Though they face a difficult challenge from the Tritons, the Tigers have played confidently and dominantly throughout this season. They hope to extend their strong performance to this year’s tournament, setting their eyes on reaching the Final Four and hopefully a National Championship as well.
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