Men's water polo looks to turn season around during Southerns and ECACs

Sure, the regular season is fun, but does it really matter once you get to the postseason?

Sure, an 11-4 overall, 6-1 Ivy League record is nice, but does it compare to winning a title?

Not if you're on the men's water polo team.

"Any time you have a chance to win a championship, it's important. You want to give it your best shot," head coach Luis Nicolao said.

A championship is exactly what is up for grabs at the Eastern College Athletic Conference and Southern Championships the next two weekends, as the Tigers try to avenge last year's losses in the title games of both tournaments.

Senior two-meter defender Marshall Roslyn says the team is hitting its stride at the right time.

"In terms of execution, we're looking pretty good going into both these tournaments," the co-captain said. "We know we can play with everyone on the East coast and if we play well, we can beat everyone."

At ECACs, the Tigers will have to face off with rivals such as Queens and St. Francis. Queens is ranked No. 14 in this week's poll while Princeton sits in a tie for 16th.

The defense is the strong point of the team and is led by senior goalie Jon Pharris, a co-captain who has twice won Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division Player of the Week honors this season. There is room for improvement on offense, however.

"Right now, we're making way too many turnovers," Nicolao said. "Our defense is playing well, but we can't keep putting ourselves in this situation by making turnovers offensively. Against Navy [on Sunday], in the first half, we turned the ball over 10 of our first 14 possessions. It's just some bad decisions."

No. 12 Navy beat the Tigers on Sunday by a goal, just as they did at Southerns last year. The Midshipmen are 11-3 and figure again to be Princeton's main competition.

"To win, we're going to have to beat Navy, who has won the Southern Championships 18 of the last 20 years," Nicolao said. Their only two losses were to us."

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Sunday's game was very physical and featured the ejections of both junior driver Rob Urquhart and junior two-meter Kevin Foster. Each player's status is questionable going into the tournaments.

"It's still in the air," Nicolao said. "Right now, it's looking like they will both miss the first game of the ECACs and the first game of the Southerns."

Foster and Urquhart account for much of the Princeton offensive production, but the team is confident that others will step up and fill in for the two stars.

"Everyone knows what he needs to do," Roslyn said. "We know that it's going to take a little extra, whether it's the eighth or ninth guy on the team who gives a little extra effort, putting away a goal when we need it. It could be the difference in the game."

In order to win at the ECACs and Southerns, Princeton will need to get better in close games. So far this year, all four Tiger losses have come by one goal.

"I don't think it is really a strategy thing," Nicolao said. "In each game we lost, I know there are things we could have done differently offensively, whether it's to score a couple more goals or protect the ball better on defense. We've just played a lot of games that could have gone either way. The team that makes the least amount of mistakes will win."

Overall, the team is more experienced than last year, according to Nicolao.

"It's a different team," Nicolao said. "I think we've learned a lot from last year. Every game is going to be a battle, but I am confident in this team."

"This year's team has more experience in bigger games than last year's team," Pharris said. "A lot of the players [on this year's team] played significant time in the losses last year at the ECACs and the Southerns, so we've been there."

Now they just hope they can say they've won there, too.