Men's water polo goes 3-0 in North/South Invitational

In water polo, the word punishing is rarely used to describe a team's defensive effort.

But on Saturday night, after the Tiger defense held Harvard to a meager two points in an 8-2 victory, "a punishing defensive effort" is the first phrase that comes to mind.

The Tigers pulled off two other big victories this weekend, beating Iona, 11-10, and Brown, 10-8, in the North/South Invitational held at De-Nunzio Pool.

On Saturday night, after having narrowly defeated Iona in the first round of competition, the Tigers put their morning difficulties behind them and played their best game of the year so far against No. 17 Harvard.

DeNunzio Pool came to life as the nearly 1000 fans that had packed tightly into the stands were treated to an oustanding effort by the Tigers.

Princeton jumped on top of the Crimson early, scoring three unanswered goals in the first five minutes of play.

Freshman two-meter defenseman Jamal Motlagh then forced a turnover that led to a goal by senior captain Kevin Foster in the final minute of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Harvard earned a penalty shot, and appeared to have its first opportunity to score. The Crimson couldn't get the shot by sophomore goalie Peter Sabbatini, however, who had 11 saves on the night.

Freshman driver John Stover then stepped up from the right side to deliver an unassisted goal, making it 5-0.

Harvard managed to score its first goal with two minutes left in the half. Both teams played brilliant defense as the score stayed at 5-1 through halftime.

Stover opened up the second half by winning the tip off, which was quickly followed by a high goal by junior defenseman Dan McKenna to increase the Tiger lead to five.

The triumphant chant of "Princeton" from the crowd filled the air as the Tigers set up for what would be a long point. After an exchange of offense and defense by the teams, McKenna's shot on a fast break opportunity was blocked by the Crimson goalie.

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Harvard responded with a fast break opportunity, but Sabbatini came up with his biggest save of the day. The Crimson scored off the following play, however, to make it 6-2.

Senior captain Robert Urquhart responded with 13 seconds remaining in the quarter with a shot that found the right side of the net.

In the fourth quarter, the Tiger defense shut Harvard down, not allowing a single point. Stover netted his third goal of the night with 1:22 left in the game to put the Crimson away in a contest dominated by the Tiger defense.

"Anytime you limit a team to one goal per half, you've got a good shot to win," Nicolao said.

Earlier that morning, the Tigers opened tournament play against Iona. Coming into the tournament, Iona had been playing well, sporting a 6-0 record on the year.

It may have been first game jitters, or the fact that most of their classmates were still in bed, but the Tigers did not play up to expectations. Princeton was able to maintain a narrow lead for the entire game, however, as Urquhart scored four goals.

With 1:10 left in the game, Iona's Mike Regan scored to tie the game and force overtime. Urquhart and Foster both scored in the first overtime period, putting the Tigers on top by one goal. The lead would not stand, however, as Iona caught up to force a second overtime period.

Princeton nearly won it in the second overtime, but a desperate goal by Iona with two seconds left to play forced a third overtime period.

McKenna scored the game winner in the suspenseful 11-10 match, as the Tigers handed Iona its first loss of the season.

"The Iona game, it was disappointing. We weren't able to finish well," head coach Luis Nicolao said.

The atmosphere in Princeton's final match of the tournament against Brown on Sunday morning was much more relaxed.

Freshman goalie Gant Morgner manned the net, allowed two Brown goals. As a result, the teams closed out the first quarter neck-and-neck with two goals apiece.

In the second quarter, McKenna, junior two-meter defenseman D.J. Halliday, and Urquhart scored consecutive goals to boost the Tigers to a 5-2 lead. Brown scored once more before a pass from Foster to junior driver Derrick Wong resulted in the last goal of the half.

The Tigers upped the score to 10-4 by the fourth quarter, before Brown scored four consecutive goals with four minutes left in the game. That was not enough, however, as the Tigers held on for the 10-8 victory.