Men's Water Polo: Bucknell, George Washington set to invade DeNunzio Pool

The No. 17 men’s water polo team will take on its second and third regular season games this weekend with a match against Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., on Saturday afternoon and a home game against George Washington on Sunday morning at DeNunzio Pool.

Princeton (4-4 overall) enters the weekend after placing second in the recent ECAC Championships. The Bison and the Colonials earned fifth and eighth place, respectively.

The Tigers have managed to turn things around after two tough losses during the Princeton Invitational.

“We have started to take advantage of opportunities and just finish shots” head coach Luis Nicolao said.

Princeton is led by senior attackers Mark Zalewski and Douglas Wigley, who have 14 goals apiece, accounting for almost 40 percent of all points scored this year.

Senior attacker Eric Vreeland leads the team with 12 assists, with Zalewksi and freshman attacker Tim Wenzlau next with six each. The balanced efforts on offense have been supplemented by strong play between the pipes, with junior Mike Merlone putting up 54 saves in six games this season.

Bucknell (6-5 overall) came into the season ranked No. 19 in the preseason polls, but dropped out of the rankings just before the ECAC Championships. To be successful Saturday, the Tigers will need to shut down Bison utility Richie Hyden, who leads the team with 25 goals this season. Utility Howie Kalter follows with 17 for the season thus far.

Bucknell and Princeton have faced three mutual opponents this year: Fordham, Johns Hopkins and Brown. Princeton split a pair of matches with Brown, a 5-6 loss early in the season and a 10-8 win at ECACs last weekend. The Orange and Black also defeated Fordham 13-9 and John’s Hopkins 11-5 last week. The Bison triumphed over Fordham 15-9, but dropped two very close games to Hopkins and Brown, both one-point decisions in the final seconds of play.

George Washington (4-10 overall) is led by senior attacker John-Claude Wright, who has totaled 30 goals this season, almost one-third of all points scored for the Colonials. George Washington has been in something of a downward skid, with only two wins out of its last 10 games played.

While these games favor Princeton on paper, you don’t have to look too far back to see that its upcoming matches could be close. The Tigers squeaked by 11-9 against the Colonials in an extremely tight matchup last season. Bucknell, which spent a large part of last season in the top 20, picked up an 11-6 win over the Tigers in their first matchup of the season. Needless to say, there’s no reason for the Tigers to be too confident.

With the NCAA championship being held in DeNunzio in a couple of months, the main obstacle preventing Princeton from reaching a championship berth is No. 11 Navy. After three quarters of great play last weekend, the Tigers lost it in the fourth and dropped four points in eight minutes. Picking up wins against Bucknell and George Washington will be important, but the following week’s matchup against Navy will be critical for the direction of the season.