Eastern Championship up for grabs for men's water polo

The men's water polo team is undoubtedly the barracuda in a small pond. The No. 12 Tigers handily won the Southern Championship and have dominated their opponents with a 22-4 overall record this year. This weekend's Eastern Championship, however, will most likely be a showdown between the East Coast's strongest contenders and should be a good indicator of Princeton's status in the water polo food chain.

"[This championship] means everything," junior driver John Stover said. "This is what we've been looking forward to since the last Eastern championship game. This is the culmination of hours of putting in work in the weight room and time in the pool."

This year's Eastern Championship, held in Lewisburg, Pa., will be an emotional one for Princeton. The team returns with the memories of last season's heartbreaking 8-6 loss to Navy in the finals and the thought that each game it plays may be its last.

"This could be the last game we play, so we're going to put all we have into it, whether it's one, two or three games," sophomore driver Nick Seaver said.

Top-seeded Princeton begins Saturday morning against bottom seed MIT (14-11). Last season's first-round matchup was the same, with the Tigers soundly defeating MIT, 15-2. Although Princeton has not yet seen the Engineers this season, a Tiger victory seems likely.

"We haven't seen them yet this year, but I don't expect them to be too much different," Stover said. "We're going to come out fired up, and we're not going to hold back, so I'm expecting us to beat them if we come out with the right mindset."

If games play out as predicted on both sides of the bracket, then the Tigers should see Salem International (10-10) in the second round. Princeton has beaten them twice this year, 14-10 and 15-14. However, unlike MIT, the Salem Tigers won't be a team easily walked over. In fact, during the last encounter against Salem, Princeton's sluggish play forced the Tigeres to battle for the victory in overtime. Despite that struggle, chances are good that Princeton will advance to the finals.

"We're not going to come into any of the games feeling overconfident," Seaver said.

The final-round battle will likely be duked out between No. 12 Princeton and No. 10 St. Francis.

"We're not really worrying about what happens on the other side of the bracket," Stover said, "but we just have to concentrate and make sure we're there on Sunday, also."

The predicted final-round opponent is surprising, considering that in the past few seasons Easterns has been a throwdown between archrivals Princeton and Navy. However, the No. 17 Midshipmen have not been as strong this season as in the past.

Second-seeded St. Francis would make the finals a battle. The Tigers and the Terriers have played each other twice already. Princeton clinched the first game, 13-10, and St. Francis won the second, 10-6.

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"St. Francis is going to be a close game," Seaver said. "They are physical and experienced."

The Eastern finals will be played for high stakes.

"It's really big for all of us," freshman utility Zack Beckmann said. "We haven't won it since 1992, and if we win we'll have a spot in the NCAA Final Four tournament, so we're pretty stoked about that."

A Black-and-Orange victory will entitle Princeton to an upgrade from barracuda to shark status complete with tickets to California, where it can further test its mettle against the West Coast sharks.