Tough foes spoil Tigers' weekend

This season, the women’s water polo team seems to be having an easy time against unranked opponents. Princeton (7-5), however, is regularly undone by fellow top-25 foes. In the Elite Six Tournament this past weekend, that trend continued as the No. 18 Tigers lost to No. 15 Hartwick, No. 20 Indiana and No. 12 Michigan but escaped with a victory against Brown.

Despite Princeton’s recent struggles with top-ranked opponents, the Tigers remain eager to face the best competition.

“We always like to play good games against hard teams whenever we can,” sophomore utility Phoebe Champion said. “That’s only going to make us better and work to our advantage towards the end of the season.”

The defending Eastern champion, the Hawks (6-7), were Princeton’s first opponent. The Tigers fell behind early but never allowed Hartwick to open up a large lead.

In the fourth period, however, Hartwick dominated the action against the Tigers. The 3-1 margin in the fourth gave the Hawks the win, 11-8.

Driver Kirsten Hudson keyed Hartwick’s attack, scoring five goals, while freshman driver Lauren Brunner and sophomore utility Berenice Jimenez led Princeton with two goals each.

The Tigers demonstrated more resilience in their second Saturday game, defeating the Bears (1-7) in overtime, 10-9. Princeton’s offense was on target in the first half, staking the team to a 4-2 lead.

At the halfway mark, the Bears seemed to wake up from hibernation and come alive in the third quarter. A five-goal barrage gave the Bears a narrow 7-6 lead heading into the fourth period.

Princeton responded by buckling down and playing solid defense. While holding Brown to two goals, the Tigers scored three of their own to force overtime. After the first extra period went without either side netting a goal, Princeton sophomore center defender Lauren Sabb picked up her fourth goal of the game in the second overtime to give the Tigers the lead and ultimately the win.

“It was a weekend of four very good games, so we were a little tired,” Champion said of the overtime. “Once it gets to overtime, the pressure’s on, [and the] defense locks up.”

Indiana (9-7) proved to be a stiffer challenge. The second quarter was the key to the game, as the Hoosiers aggressively attacked Princeton’s goal while completely shutting down the Tigers’ offense. Indiana’s three-point margin in the second gave it a four-goal halftime advantage that Princeton could not overcome.

Brunner once again led the Tigers in scoring with two goals, while freshman utility Julie Phillips, Champion and Sabb each netted a goal.

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Going into their final matchup against Michigan, Princeton’s players realized they were being too tough on themselves.

“We’d had kind of a rough weekend as far as injuries and sicknesses and not having everyone in the pool, not having everyone practicing,” Champion said. “A lot of people felt a lot of pressure because of that … before the Michigan game we just kind of talked it out and relaxed.”

In the Tigers’ last game of the Elite Six Tournament, Princeton lost a closely contested match to the Wolverines (12-9). Michigan scored the go-ahead goal with less than a minute left, proving itself to be the class of the tournament. The Wolverines would go on to sweep their remaining Elite Six matches.

The Tigers’ next games will take place during their spring break tour of California, where Princeton will face several tough West Coast squads.

“All the games this weekend were really physical,” Champion said. “That’s exactly what they’re going to be like in California, so it was good preparation.”