"He who laughs last, laughs best," proclaims a wise English proverb. And last year, Princeton's women's water polo team did not laugh last. Almost exactly a year ago, the Tigers defeated archrival Brown 9-6 to win the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships for the third time in four years. Smiles were drawn in the Princeton faces a week after that, when they won first place at the Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division tournament. But three weeks later, it was Brown's turn to laugh.
It was the final game of the 2001 Eastern Championship. Princeton was playing the Bears in Prov-idence, and the winner would head to the NCAA final four. With seconds to go in overtime, Brown scored and defeated the Tigers 11-10. Princeton was forced to go home and think about the following year.
This weekend, the ECAC Championships in Boston brought the Tigers many good memories. History seemed to be repeating itself after the first rounds, when Princeton defeated its two opponents. Iona and Massachusetts were no competition for the Tigers and were defeated 11-7 and 10-5, respectively.
The game against UMass was a demonstration of Princeton's high motivation after obtaining an 8-0 record in CWPA league play for the fourth consecutive year. Six Tigers scored goals, led by junior 2-meter Adele McCarthy-Beauvais, who scored three. Senior utility Cassie Nichols and sophomore driver Annie Olson tallied two goals, as freshman driver Kelly Melia-Teevan, sophomore 2-meter defender Courtney Welsh, and junior driver Joanna Armstrong scored one each. Freshman goalie Madeline McCarthy made eight saves for the win.
Princeton faced another coincidence as they prepared for Hartwick in the semifinals—the winner would face Brown in the finals. Princeton, with an early 2-0 lead, smelled the possibility of winning the ECAC for the fourth time in five years until the unexpected occurred.
The Hawks battled back and scored five uncontested goals to lead 5-2. The Tigers fought back to even the score at 5-5 yet failed on two man-up opportunities and once again gave the lead back to Hartwick. The Hawks led 8-6 at halftime and never let Princeton close the gap, winning 11-9.
Juniors Jenny Edwards, McCarthy-Beauvais, and Armstrong all scored one goal along with freshmen driver Julie Miller, 2-meter Kathryn Parolin, Melia-Teevan, and Welsh. The Hawks defeated Brown 6-5 in the final — a small satisfaction for the Tigers.
"Hartwick played really well," said Edwards. "All their shots were going in, while ours were far out, including a four meter that we should have scored."
"We just didn't finish our chances," Coach Luis Nicolao said. "We would fall behind, battle back, make a mental mistake and fall behind again."
But Princeton refuses to lower its head. Instead, the Tigers are now looking forward to defend their title this weekend at the Southern Championships in Villanova, PA. Besides, after last year's experience — when Princeton won both the ECAC and the Southerns to then lose to Ivy foe Brown in the Eastern Championship finals — there is not as much attention put into these previous tournaments.
"The results at the ECAC Championships are disappointing," Edwards said, "but the truth is that it doesn't really matter that much. What really matters is winning the Easterns to advance to the NCAA final four."
With the 2001 memory still in her mind, Edwards said, "Hopefully this year things will happen the other way around."
Perhaps 2002 will be remembered as the year when Princeton laughed last.
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