For w. water polo, Midwest milder than California

Going into spring break with an 11-1 record, the women's water polo team traveled to California to face some of the top ranked schools in the country.

The Tigers were prepared to battle University of California at Irvine, San Diego State, University of California at San Diego and most importantly No. 2 University of California at Los Angeles.

But the results were not encouraging. Princeton lost all four of the games, slipping to 11-5 in the season as slow starts cost the team important games that could have been won.

Exhausted after a long flight to Los Angeles, the Tigers lost their first game 16-6 against UCLA, currently ranked second in the nation. Probably affected by this setback, Princeton also succumbed to UC-San Diego, 9-6.

Three goals by junior Adele McCarthy-Beauvais and one each by sophomore Annie Olson, junior Jenny Edwards, and senior Cassie Nichols were not enough to prevent the Tigers from falling to the Tritons to finish the day with an 11-3 record.

The second day of competition did not get better: Princeton had two slow starts that cost them the matches against San Diego State and UC-Irvine.

Despite a five-goal effort by McCarthy-Beauvais, the Tigers fell to UC-Irvine 11-8 in the second match of the day. Earlier in the morning, Princeton lost to San Diego State, 9-6.

"We missed a lot of good chances against San Diego," head coach Luis Nicolao said. "We had the opportunities but we also had some breakdowns."

Princeton was behind 5-3 at the half and 6-4 at the end of the third quarter. Juniors Joanna Armstrong, Edwards, and McCarthy-Beauvais scored all six goals, with registering two each. Freshman Madeline McCarthy was tough on goal and registered seven saves in the match.

Princeton battled hard against UC-Irvine but lost 11-8. Edwards added two goals and freshman Mariah Zebrowski had one in the loss. The Tigers fell behind 6-3 at the half and were not able to catch up.

"We dug ourselves a hole early," said Nicolao, "and we were unable to get over the hump."

But that was not the end of spring break for the Tigers. After the unpleasant California experience, Princeton traveled to Bloomington, IN. to participate in the Indiana Invitational. And there things changed.

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On Saturday, the Tigers were facing the host school, Indiana. This time there was no slow start, and Princeton entered halftime up 6-1. The Tigers outscored the Hoosiers by a margin of 4-1 in the fourth quarter en route to an 11-6 victory.

McCarthy-Beauvais had a team-high four goals, while Nichols, Edwards, and Olson each had two. Sophomore Courtney Welsh registered one and McCarthy had 14 saves in goal.

The best game of the week for Princeton was against 16th-ranked Michigan.

The Wolverines had defeated the Tigers 9-7 a few weeks ago at the Brown Invitational. Hungry for revenge, McCarthy-Beauvais scored 8 goals to lead the Tigers to a very tight 17-16 win against Michigan.

Both teams had players ejected from the game in one of the hardest fought matches of the year for the Tigers. McCarthy-Beauvais's effort was complemented by Nichols and Edwards, with three goals, and freshman Kelly-Melia Teevan, who scored one. In goal, McCarthy was again the star with 13 saves.

"It was a hard fought game," Nicolao said. "I'm really proud of our team, they really played hard."

With a more modest 13-5 record, the Tigers will now travel to Lewisburg, Pa. to play George Washington and Bucknell, two rivals that in the past have not presented much of a problem for the Tigers. In fact, this year Princeton already defeated both schools, with scores of 9-4 and 19-4, respectively.