Tigers host ECAC championships

The men's water polo team looks to continue its winning ways as it hosts the Eastern Conference Athletic Conference Championship this weekend. Seven other teams, including St. Francis, Navy and Harvard, will come to town hungry to upset the Tigers (6-1), seeded first in the tournament.

Princeton takes on Johns Hopkins at 9 a.m. Saturday to kick off the weekend's action. The winner advances to battle the winner of the Bucknell/Harvard game later that day.

Should each team advance to Sunday's championship game, Princeton will have a chance to avenge its loss to St. Francis in last year's semifinal. The Tigers placed third in the tournament, defeating George Washington and Iona before falling, 10-6, to St. Francis.

Yet the Terriers, seeded second in this year's tournament, have equal reason to be hungry for revenge. In fact, the wounds from their most recent loss to Princeton are still fresh. When the two teams clashed two weeks ago on Sept. 10, they clawed their way through three overtime periods before Princeton senior driver John Stover netted the winning goal for an exhausting 11-10 victory.

Indeed, St. Francis may prove to be the toughest challenge for the Tigers in this tournament. With two of three honorable mention All-American players from last year returning, the tall and talented Terrier team is looking to go all the way at the ECAC. Hungarian sophomore Botond Szalma, at six feet, eight inches, leads an internationally recruited team that features only two American-born players.

The Tigers have many reasons to be confident entering this weekend's tournament, though, with Stover primary among them. The third-team All-American leads a strong core of upperclassmen on offense for Princeton. He is joined by senior center Jamal Motlagh and junior utilityman Reid Joseph, both of whom were key contributors to last year's NCAA Championship run.

A fourth Tiger is also doing his share to help the team win after spending last season in the shadows of a three-time All-American. Having emerged as the primary replacement for Peter Sabbatini '05, sophomore goalie Scott Syverson is quickly becoming a force in the net, with 17 saves in the past two games.

Princeton has already found success early in the season, earning a No. 10 national ranking and suffering its only loss at the hands of No. 7 UC San Diego in a tight 11-9 defeat.