The visiting team scored another goal with five minutes 18 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. The faces of the orange and black reflected imminent defeat; the crowd was ready to leave the stadium. But suddenly, something happened.
The setting was last Saturday at DeNunzio Pool, where the Princeton women's water polo team (4-0) faced Indiana (2-2). It was the third match the Tigers played during the Princeton Invitational, and it seemed as though this would be the first one they would lose. The Hoosiers had scored six of their ten goals using mostly innocuous long-range shots.
But with the score 10-8 in favor of Indiana and the clock ticking down on its way to zero, junior Jenny Edwards scored her only goal of the match at the optimal moment to bring the Tigers to within one. Princeton was on its way to a comeback.
With 3:49 remaining, the experience came into play. After the Tigers hit a ball off the post, senior Cassandra Nichols, who had scored 3 goals in the game, threw a perfect lob to put the ball in the upper left corner of the Indiana goal. With the game tied, both teams fought furiously for the win. With 2:28 to go, however, a penalty shot was called in favor of the Tigers. Junior Adele McCarthy-Beauvais, who was recently named Second Team All-America for the second consecutive year, was called to take the responsibility. With a powerful shot to the right of the keeper, she scored to put the Tigers up by one. The Hoosiers were unable to answer and Princeton held onto the slim margin and earned the win.
The other three games were relatively easy for the Tigers. In the season's opening games on Friday, Princeton defeated Bucknell 15-2 and Harvard 10-3 later in the day. McCarthy-Beauvais, the leading scorer from last season, picked up from where she left off scoring nine goals against the Bison and the Crimson.
Princeton dominated Bucknell in its first game, jumping out to an 8-1 lead by halftime. Other than the six goals by McCarthy-Beauvais, two freshmen, Kelly Melia-Teevan and Kathryn Parolin scored their first collegiate goals in the match. Team captain, Cassie Nichols registered the first two Tiger goals of the season. McCarthy-Beauvais and Nichols had three goals apiece as the Tigers rolled over Harvard in the second game of the day. Melia-Teevan had two goals and freshman Mariah Zebrowski had one.
The second game of the day on Saturday was a crushing victory for Princeton. With a very weak team that won only one game, Slippery Rock was no rival for the Tigers. Eight Princeton players scored at least once to lead Princeton to a 12-3 victory.
McCarthy-Beauvais again led the team with three goals and junior Melinda Martin and Melia-Teevan scored two. Edwards, junior Joanna Armstrong, sophomore Courtney Welsh, Zebrowski and Parolin each scored a goal to finish the day.
"We definitely had a little trouble against Imdiana," McCarthy-Beauvais said. "But we pulled through it and now we're going for the championship.
With an undefeated record of 4-0, the Tigers will return to action when they host Villanova on Feb. 28 at DeNunzio Pool.
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