Tigers sweep Maryland, Bucknell, Salem Int'l

The women's water polo team showed no signs of fatigue as the Tigers continued their season-long road trip this past weekend at Salem International University in West Virginia. No. 16 Princeton (13-4 overall, 5-0 Southern Division) finished the weekend with four strong wins over its Southern Division competition.

The Tigers notched victories over Salem International, University of Maryland and Bucknell during a weekend in which Princeton never trailed in any of its games.

The weekend's action began with a Friday night game against Salem International. The Tigers came out strong in their first game and coasted to a 13-3 victory. Sophomore utility Elyse Colgan posted three goals to lead the Princeton offense. Sophomore center Samantha Shaughnessy and freshman driver Carolina Ardila each contributed two goals, while six other Tigers tallied single goals.

Princeton faced off against the same Salem International squad the next morning and once again came away with a win by a score of 15-7. Colgan and Ardila repeated their efforts from the previous night and led the Tigers in scoring with four and three goals respectively. As in the first game, Princeton utilized a balanced scoring offense to claim the victory with a total of eight different Tigers finding the back of the net.

In its second game of the day, the established Princeton squad took to the pool against a Maryland team in only its second year as a program. The Terrapins (4-9, 1-2), who didn't win a single game in their inaugural season, notched their program's first victory earlier this year against Marist at the Princeton Invitational.

Maryland had no such luck against the talented Tiger team, falling 16-2 in Princeton's most lopsided victory of the trip. Sophomore driver Karina Reyner paced the Tigers with four goals, her highest output of the season.

The biggest challenge of the weekend for Princeton came in the final game against a tough Bucknell team that came into the game ranked No. 20 in the nation. The Tigers came out scoring and went into halftime with a 4-1 advantage. The Bisons (11-2, 3-1) were able to put in three goals against the Princeton defense in the second half, but the Tigers' offense pulled away, notching five goals of their own. The game ended with a 9-4 Princeton victory.

Colgan led the Tigers in scoring for the third time in four games over the weekend, recording two goals. Colgan, who was an honorable mention All-American last season as a freshman, leads Princeton with 45 goals on the season.

The Tiger scoring attack netted 53 goals over the weekend, but according to head coach Luis Nicolao, it was the strong defense that gave up only 16 goals which set up much of Princeton's success.

"Our main effort is always defensive," Nicolao said. "Some days you may shoot better than other days, but if you go out there and play good team defense, you don't need anything else."

Fortunately for the Tigers, they didn't need much more than defense as three players who normally make large contributions had to sit out the weekend due to sickness or injury. Senior goalie Madeline McCarthy was forced out by the flu, while sophomore driver Danielle Carlson was also sidelined by illness. Junior driver Meghan Donahue missed the weekend after suffering a concussion in practice on Thursday.

"Donahue's really a critical part of the team," Reyner said. "She might not be like the leading scorer, but she's a playmaker and I think one of the most talented players on the team."

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Princeton hopes to be at full strength by the time the team heads to California for eight games over spring break.

The Tigers will open their trip to the west coast against No. 1 UCLA, which beat Princeton, 16-1, earlier in the season. From there, the Tigers face three teams ranked in the top 20, which should give Princeton the opportunity to gain valuable experience heading into the playoffs.