M. water polo loses to Navy in Southerns title game

Trailing 6-2 at halftime in the finals of the Southern Championships at Navy Sunday, the men's water polo team appeared to be on its way to a surprisingly lopsided loss against the always-tough Midshipmen.

But this was a Princeton-Navy matchup, and if the Tigers have proven nothing else this year, they have shown that when they get together with their rivals from Annapolis, matters are never settled until the final buzzer.

In that second half, Princeton (22-8) battled back with three consecutive goals, and though the Tigers fell short in the end, 6-5, they proved that their rivalry with Navy is as fierce as ever.

Princeton has now played three one-goal games with the Midshipmen this year, losing Sept. 24, 14-13, and winning Oct. 7, 6-5.

Prelude

The loss concluded an otherwise successful Fall Break for Princeton. On their way to the finals of Southerns, the Tigers hammered Penn State-Behrend, 14-0, Saturday. Princeton then cruised to an easy 13-5 win over Johns Hopkins later that day.

The Tigers got strong play from three different goaltenders — junior Jon Pharris, freshman Kevin Murray and sophomore Garth Fealey. Heading the scoring barrage for Princeton was senior driver Chris Gratian, who scored three times against Johns Hopkins. In the Tigers' first game of the tournament, they got hat tricks from three different players — senior driver Rob Saperstein, freshman driver Dan Holligan and freshman two-meter driver Chris Lesser.

In fact, Princeton's domination of Penn State-Behrend was so thorough that both Murray and Fealey were given opportunities to play outside of the goal. Donning the cap of senior two-meter Drew Jones, Murray even scored a pair of goals as the Tigers pulled away from their overmatched opponents.

Princeton will now begin preparing in earnest for Easterns, which take place Nov. 18-19 in Providence, R.I. A potential showdown with Navy looms ahead if both teams reach the final.