All but Sabbatini return for men's water polo

The men's water polo team enters its season with one major goal in mind: to make it back to the NCAA Final Four by winning the Eastern Championships. But the team's ambition doesn't stop there.

"We want to get to NCAAs and then win some games ... maybe even win the whole thing," junior center Nick Seaver said casually — yet entirely seriously.

Sounds like a bold statement, but the Tigers' past results give them reason to be optimistic. Last year the team clinched the Eastern Championship in a dramatic quadruple-overtime victory over St. Francis and lost two close games in the Final Four. In the NCAA semifinals, they were only narrowly defeated in overtime by eventual champion UCLA.

The Tigers' roster also adds to the their confidence, as senior standouts John Stover and Jamal Motlagh captain a very experienced team. Princeton returns all starters in the field and boasts depth that many teams can only dream about.

"We're fortunate to have a core group of strong players in every class," head coach Luis Nicolao said. "We're not relying on just one or two guys. Anyone in the water could score at any moment."

The team lost only one field player to graduation and picked up the talented freshman duo of Brendan Colgan and Eric Vreeland.

In addition to depth and experience, the team has already shown promise in its cohesion and team play.

"The team is working tremendously hard to develop a winning chemistry," junior driver Kyle Morgan said.

This emergent synergy was evident in the team's solid performance in last weekend's Princeton Invitational. The Tigers came together to rally from a threepoint deficit in the fourth quarter and gut out an 11-10 victory in triple-overtime. In an 11-9 loss to No. 10 UCSD, the squad showed that it can compete with the best in the country despite a few defensive lapses and missed opportunities.

But while the Tigers seem poised for a successful season, they still have a handful of obstacles to overcome in order to make the Final Four a reality.

The loss of Eastern Championship tournament MVP and All-American goalie Peter Sabbatini presents by far the biggest challenge. Sophomore Scott Syverson and senior Gant Morgner, currently injured, will share time in goal and attempt to fill Sabbatini's shoes.

Furthermore, an Eastern Championship title is far from guaranteed.

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"Water polo is like any other sport. On any given day any team can beat any other," said Motlagh, who suffered a broken nose last weekend but will resume play soon. "There are four or five teams that believe they can win Easterns."

Perennial rival St. Francis will once again challenge the Tigers for the Eastern Championship, as evidenced by the Terriers' performance in the Princeton Invitational. Navy is another formidable foe, and the Bucknell squad appears to be on the upswing.

The Tigers also find themselves in a new position within the conference this year. While Princeton has had a strong squad for the past several years, its last Final Four prior to last season was in 1992.

"Everyone is out to beat us — we're not a surprise anymore," Nicolao said.

Furthermore, if the Tigers do succeed in capturing the NCAA berth, they may be at a distinct disadvantage once at the tournament. The level of competition the Tigers face throughout much of the regular season fails to match up to that of the West Coast schools that typically qualify for the Final Four. Princeton's lopsided victories over three east coast teams at the Princeton Invitational confirm this disparity.

The team's only taste of the West Coast style of play will come on its annual California road trip, when the Tigers will play five California teams including UCLA, Loyola Marymount — who beat the Tigers for third place at NCAAs last year — and a rematch with UCSD.

Regardless of the team's early successes and upcoming challenges, what really matters is which team plays the best in November.

"We don't want to put the cart before the horse," senior utility Jake Harter said. "We need to play one game at a time. But NCAAs and playing in a national championship is on all our minds."