The Princeton men's water polo team was teetering on a cliff, barely maintaining its balance while the 'sharks' below began to circle.
After being thoroughly defeated by national powers UCLA and Long Beach by the scores 13-3 and 14-7 respectively in the first games of a West Coast trip, the Tigers were in the midst of squandering a 5-0 first-half lead against La Verne. The Leopards had rebounded and taken advantage of a total offensive and defensive breakdown by Princeton, tying the game at five.
Then sophomore two-meter Kevin Foster — who had scored once earlier in the match — came up big. Under a stifling defense, Foster mustered a great shot on net with only 35 seconds left, breaking the Tigers' scoring drought and allowing them to take the lead, 6-5. Then, all was right in the world again as the Tigers won their first game of the road trip.
After that, victories over UC-Davis and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, along with a well-played overtime loss to No. 14 Loyola Marymount, stabilized what could have been a demoralizing weekend for a team so early in its season.
Hanging tough
"As a team, we came a long way from Friday to Sunday," sophomore driver Rob Urquhart said. "As the weekend went on, we came together more as a team and began to play four straight quarters of hard water polo."
On Friday, Princeton just didn't jump out early enough, quickly falling into a defensive posture that became its downfall. The speed and endurance of UCLA and Long Beach's transition game kept Princeton constantly rushing back to cover its defensive end. Therefore, any mistakes by the Tigers quickly resulted in goals for their opponents.
"It really exposes what you need to work on when you play the top teams in the country," senior captain Chris Gratian said.
The Tigers immediately learned from these mistakes. Head coach Luis Nicolao's insistence on better anticipation really paid off on Saturday, resulting in more effective offensive and defensive transitions. The team bolted out of the gate against La Verne, highlighted by two impressive goals by Urquhart. Then, after Foster salvaged that victory, the squad had arguably its best match, soundly defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 9-5.
Too much to handle
Aggressive from start to finish, fighting tough for every loose ball and conserving energy, Princeton wore down a Claremont squad that just couldn't match the Tigers' intensity.
"If [our defense] can't stay in a half-court set, teams will know how to run all over you," Gratian said. "But when it's set, our defense is pretty strong and from there, the offense can do its job."
The rest of the weekend, then, just continued to build on itself. Sunday saw four players — Foster, Urquhart, Gratian and senior two-meter Drew Jones — each score two goals en route to a solid 9-5 win over UC-Davis. The Tigers' well-rounded offense was also aided by a goal from freshman driver Dan McKenna, who — along with fellow freshman two-meter D.J. Halliday — are making a significant impact among a strong core of returning, playoff-experienced starters.
The final game of the weekend had Princeton facing No.14 Loyola Marymount. The teams matched up relatively evenly and the game reflected that, with no one team opening up a significant lead. At the start of the fourth quarter, though, Princeton trailed 6-4 before fighting back to take the lead, 8-7.
Down, but not out
Unfortunately, Loyola Marymount rebounded to tie the game with 10 seconds left and then scored in the first of two three-minute overtime periods to go ahead, 9-8. The Tigers — who had already played five games this weekend, compared to one by the Lions — were left with nothing in their tanks and took the loss in overtime.
"Even though we went 3-3, we're still on track and still where we need to be," Gratian said, optimistic about the team's trip from a learning standpoint.
"After getting that competitive game experience from the better West Coast teams, we'll be a lot better and a lot more prepared against our East Coast competition," Urquhart said, mirroring the general optimism of the squad.
The Tigers return to the 'rainy' coast for rematches this weekend against George Washington, Bucknell, and Johns Hopkins. But their main challenge comes from Navy, Princeton's biggest rival in the East.
"Navy has a bunch of great swimmers and many big guys that they can rotate at the hole set," Gratian said. "It's going to be a rough and physical game but we'll be ready for it. . . This is definitely the game that we've been waiting for."
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