Tigers lose chance for revenge vs. Navy

There are few things worse than losing a game that your team clearly deserved to win, so when the chance arises to avenge such a loss, it is not a matter to be taken lightly.

This was the situation that the No. 14 men's water polo team encountered Saturday afternoon at DeNunzio Pool, facing off against a No. 10 Navy squad that had barely beaten the Tigers just a week before.

In the semifinals of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, the Tigers played three strong quarters, but struggled late and fell to the Midshipmen.

"We controlled the tempo but we missed a lot of opportunities and were unable to put our shots away," head coach Luis Nicolao said of that game.

On Saturday, the team fell victim to many of the same mistakes; struggling to get shots off and giving up easy opportunities on defense, they eventually fell to Navy, 9-7.

The Tigers started the game off strong, getting a few quality scoring chances in the first few minutes, but it was Navy that struck first, scoring with two minutes, 39 seconds left in the first quarter and then again just 37 seconds later.

Following that second goal, Princeton picked up the intensity and again started generating opportunities of its own. Much like they did at the start of the contest, the Tigers dominated the early parts of the second quarter, when a flurry of Princeton advances were turned away by the superb play of Midshipmen goaltender George Naughton.

The Tigers finally got on the board with 2:53 left in the second period, when sophomore driver Brendan Colgan scored his 18th goal of the season. Navy, however, was quick to respond, bringing the lead back to two goals just 1:22 later.

It was to be the story of the game for Princeton; the inability to maintain momentum immediately after scoring. Of the Tigers' next five goals, four were neutralized by the Midshipmen within the following minute, making it nearly impossible for Princeton to develop any kind of rhythm offensively.

The two teams traded goals late in the second quarter — Princeton's goal coming on a shot from senior captain Nicolas Seaver — and Navy went into halftime leading 4-2.

Early in the third quarter sophomore utility Eric Vreeland beat Naughton with a beautifully placed lob to bring the Tigers within one, but Navy responded just 18 seconds later on a five-meter penalty shot. Following another Midshipmen tally Colgan brought the Tigers back with a laser from the right side of the goal, but Navy bounced back with a score of its own.

With just eight seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Midshipmen took advantage of a Princeton defensive lapse and scored their seventh and most devastating goal of the game. Having scored late in the third, it looked as though Princeton might carry the momentum into the fourth quarter, but the goal in the waning seconds reinforced Navy's command of the game.

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Princeton scored three times in the fourth quarter, with goals from Seaver, Colgan and senior utility Reid Joseph, but the Midshipmen added two more of their own. Ultimately, the Tigers' three-goal deficit heading into the fourth proved too much.

Overall there were some good things that Princeton will take from the game, including the stellar individual play of Seaver and Colgan up front and the all-around solid game played by Joseph on defense, but as Nicolao said, "This is a team game, and we need to work on a lot of these problems together."

Next up for the Tigers is a game against Johns Hopkins on Saturday, followed by their final chance to beat the Midshipmen just a few hours later.

All five of Princeton's losses have been to teams ranked in the top 10 in the country, but this team is ready to make that jump to water polo's elite.

"We showed today that we can control the game against teams like Navy," Nicolao said. "Now we need to learn from our mistakes, and cut back on mental mistakes that lead to easy goals."