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Women's water polo finishes season with third-place finish at CWPA championships

The Princeton women’s water polo team (20-7 overall, 4-3 CWPA) finished the season by coming in third at the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championships. The Tigers won a hard-fought victory over Harvard (24-10, 3-4 CWPA) on Friday before just falling to No. 5-ranked Michigan (29-6 overall, 7-0 CWPA) to drop out of contention for the title. However, Princeton then went on to win its Sunday game against Hartwick (16-14, 3-4 CWPA) to claim third-place and end their year on a high note.

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The Tigers began tournament play against their perennial rival Harvard, taking on a Crimson team that they had previously notched slim 12-8 and 9-7 victories over in the regular season. Princeton found itself neck and neck with the Crimson to open the contest: Harvard scored first, but the two teams would exchange goals over the next several minutes to remain deadlocked at 2-2. However, with 33 seconds to go in the first quarter, senior utility Pippa Temple notched a much-needed goal for the Tigers to put them up 3-2.

Princeton continued to build its lead through the second quarter, piling on three goals to Harvard’s two and taking a 6-4 advantage into halftime. As the second half began, Princeton simply overwhelmed its opponent by scoring three unanswered goals and taking a 9-4 lead. The Crimson would claw back to within two, but the Tigers never allowed it to get any closer than that and walked away with a deeply satisfying 12-8 win.

Princeton then advanced to the tournament semifinals, where they took on No. 5-ranked (and No. 1-seeded) Michigan. The Wolverines have been a powerhouse throughout the season and showed it on Saturday as they scored the first four goals of the game to take a commanding lead. The Tigers gradually worked themselves closer to contention over the second quarter, scoring three goals, but Michigan countered with two goals of their own to take a formidable 6-3 lead at the half.

However, Princeton came out fighting in the second half. The Tigers scored the two unanswered goals in the third quarter to successfully cut Michigan’s lead to one with 3:30 to go in the period, but the Wolverines re-took a two-point margin by the end of the third. In the crucial final quarter, the two teams traded goals to make the score 8-6, but Michigan would score again to take a 9-6 advantage with only 1:53 to go. Princeton battled to the end, with sophomore two meter defense Sydney Cheong and Temple scoring two unanswered to make it a 9-8 game with 34 seconds to go. However, the Tigers could not find a way to score again and dropped out of title contention in a close 9-8 loss.

The team would face its final matchup of the year that Sunday, as it took on No. 21-ranked Hartwick in the tournament’s third-place game. This time, it was the Tigers who got off to a fast start: Princeton took a 4-0 lead to start the first quarter and never quite looked back. The Tigers led 10-4 by halftime, and although a power play from Hartwick cut the deficit to 12-8 midway through the third, Princeton finished the quarter with two goals to regain a commanding 14-8 lead. In the final period, the Tigers again outscored their opponents 3-2 to finish their 2015-2016 campaign with a 17-10 victory.

The win concludes the stellar playing career of Temple, who has helped lead the Tigers to two CWPA Championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances, as well as a 109-20 record in her time here. At the weekend’s conclusion, Temple and sophomores Haley Wan and Chelsea Johnson were named to the All-Tournament second team.

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