Despite suffering tight losses in both the Eastern and Southern Championships and graduating eight valuable players at the end of last season, the men's water polo team (4-1 overall, 1-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) has rebuilt its squad in hopes of claiming both coveted titles this season.
"When we enter every season our goal is to win the Eastern and Southern Championships," head coach Luis Nicolao said.
The No. 16 Tigers started the season strong at the Princeton Invitational, defeating Iona, Queens and Fordham. Princeton went on to defeat George Washington — Princeton's only conference game of the invitational — in its fifth and final game of the invitational. Princeton's sole defeat of the weekend came from No. 8 Pacific in a 16-15 nail-biter; Pacific was the only team the Tigers played that was ranked above them.
Last weekend's performance was very impressive considering the Tigers' rebuilding process.
If Princeton hopes to be competitive for tougher matches later in the season, its younger players will need to support the team. Of the eight seniors to leave, Jon Stover '06 was the Tigers' leading scorer and an All-American. In addition, the departing class left Princeton with only one returning goalkeeper, junior Scott Syverson.
To help fill the void left by departed seniors, the Tigers acquired five talented freshmen: goalkeeper Henry Fyfe; utility Gregor Horstmeyer; driver Matt Hudnall; goalkeeper Scott Hvidt and utility Mark Zalewski. Fyfe and Hvidt come to Princeton as experienced goalies who are expected to save many shots for the Tigers. Horstmeyer won a bronze medal at the 2005 Junior Olympics.
"This year, we are going to put guys in new roles and see how they react," Nicolao said. "We lost a nice class, but the only thing we can do now is regroup and look ahead."
For leadership in and out of the pool, the Tigers will look to the three senior co-captains: Reid Joseph, Chris Kelsch and Nicholas Seaver.
At the Princeton Invitational, sophomore Eric Vreeland posted an impressive 11 goals and eight assists and established himself as a player to look out for later in the season.
Vreeland's outstanding performance was honored as the Collegiate Water Polo Association's Southern Player of the week. Last season, Vreeland scored 21 goals and led the team with 33 assists.
On Friday, the Tigers face the toughest teams of their season when they travel to Santa Cruz, Calif. to square off against UC Santa Cruz. After this match, the Orange and Black will travel up to Stanford for the Northern California Tournament to play No. 3 UCLA, No. 6 Pepperdine and No. 7 UC Davis all on Saturday. Ending the weekend, the Tigers could possibly play again on Sunday if they win on Saturday.
Princeton will travel to Providence, R.I. for the ECAC championships on September 23 where they will play Harvard, Navy and Iona. If the first three matches result in wins, the Tigers will face another team on Sunday. The ECAC championships will be the first time the Tigers face Navy since the Midshipmen defeated the Tigers during the final round of the 2005 Southern championships by two goals.
After the ECAC championships, the Tigers begin their regular season play where they will play Bucknell, John Hopkins and Navy all twice, as well as NYAC and George Washington.
Following conference play, the Tigers head to Lewisburg, Pa. for the Southern Championships, the first major championship of the season.
Ending the Tigers' season are the Eastern Championships, to be held in DeNunzio Pool. At Easterns, Princeton will face two teams which have yet to be announced. During the 2005 Eastern championships, the Tigers were knocked out in the semifinals after a 11-9 defeat by St. Francis.
If Princeton hopes to be successful in its quest to win these championships, it must be able to come out on top in close matches, a failure which has plagued the team in the past.
For a successful season, Nicolao wants his team to "focus on [its] game, and take it to the highest possible level, because we can't control how the other team plays."
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