'The Zach' fills void on offense

The men's water polo team (10-5 overall, 2-3 Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division) was left with big shoes to fill after losing last year's offensive cannons, Nick Seaver '07 and Eric Vreeland '07. Just halfway through the season, one senior has already earned the right to say he's filled them.

Senior utility Zach Beckmann has been the goto man this year, leading the Tiger offense with 44 goals and 25 steals. Not only has he broken his own previous mark of 35 goals in a season, but he is also only four shy of posting the tenth highest goal total in Princeton history. He's presently sixth for most goals in a career and in the nation's top 20 for goals this season. So who is the real Zach Beckmann?

"He's a good team captain, he draws us together and he's one of our strongest players," junior utility Brendan Colgan said. "He's really good at pumping us up and getting us psyched up — a great guy across the board."

While he may have impressive stats, there's more to Beckmann than meets the eye. Originally from the water polo hub of Southern California, Beckmann brings a cool and experienced attitude to the team, leading by example rather than words.

"He's really good at scoring goals, but he's also a nice guy. It doesn't matter how good you are, he'll...respect you. He's always excited to play Princeton water polo and he leads by example; that's his biggest strength," freshman goalie Mike Merlone said.

Beckmann has even earned an interesting variety of nicknames through the years.

"When I was an underclassman, everyone knew me as a Joe Rogan [the host of Fear Factor], and everyone thought that was my name," Beckmann said.

"We call him 'the Zach attack,' or just 'the Zach,' " Colgan said.

Beckmann has been playing water polo for over eight years , four of those playing for L.A. Water Polo, arguably one of California's best club teams. He still holds his high school's records for most career goals and most goals in a season. Coming to Princeton and having to learn what collegiate water polo was all about was still a big transition for Beckmann, however.

"[Freshman year] I started out as a ball player who came in for some offense," Beckmann said.

In his freshman season, Beckmann was part of one of only two Princeton water polo teams to play in a Final Four game in the NCAA championship.

"The first game the first night we played, we played UCLA," Beckmann said. "The fourth quarter of the game, we were at Stanford, and everyone was pulling for us, and we ended up losing in overtime."

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That UCLA team went on to win the national championship. Since that year, Beckmann has grown and become a reliable and intense player.

"This year I have more experience, more confidence and I understand what I'm doing. Now I'm more of a leader and try to be a role model and help out with all parts of the game and the team," Beckmann said.

While the Princeton team is relatively young, it has shown dramatic improvement over the course of the season.

"We've played pretty well so far, really set ourselves in a place where we can improve a lot, and we're confident that we will be able to defeat anyone by the end of the season," Beckmann said. "Two of the seniors who have been with me from the start, [goalie] Scott [Syverson] and [driver] Jason [Diggs], have played an integral role in our strength this year."

Despite his enormous contributions to the team, Beckmann's best moments weren't his accomplishments in the water, but rather the ones outside of it.

"The best part has been being around and hanging out with my teammates every day," Beckmann said. "I've been closely involved with six different classes and made great friends from all of these classes. They'll be friends I have for the rest of my life."