Men's Water Polo: Two wins, loss end league play

In its final weekend of regular season play, the No. 17 men’s water polo team captured two impressive wins and put up a tough fight against No. 13 Navy, ultimately claiming first place in the College Water Polo Association Southern Division standings. Princeton (10-10 overall, 6-2 CWPA Southern Division) defeated George Washington (7-19, 0-6) 12-9 and Johns Hopkins (9-13, 1-5) 15-8 on Saturday before falling 5-3 to Navy (15-8, 3-2) on Sunday.

In the Tigers’ first Saturday matchup, Princeton displayed a consistent attack, tallying three goals in each quarter. Senior left attack Mark Zalewski led the Tigers with five goals, one of which came during a man-advantage opportunity. Zalewski remains Princeton’s leading scorer with 49 goals on the season. Junior goalie Mike Merlone was dependable as ever between the pipes, tallying 11 saves during the game.

After the win against George Washington, Princeton took on Johns Hopkins. The Tigers had a slow first quarter but pulled ahead in the second quarter with a shutout. For the second straight game, Zalewski led the Tigers, scoring four goals, one of which was a five-meter shot. Freshman attack Tim Wenzlau recorded four goals, two of which scored on man-advantage chances.

The Tigers led 7-3 at halftime. Junior center Jeff Cole remarked that the team “finished strong” against John Hopkins and that the Tigers were pleased overall with a pair of wins in two deep-to-shallow pools.

The pools at both George Washington and Johns Hopkins are deep-to-shallow venues, which created an obstacle for Princeton, as most of its athletes, especially the California natives, have little experience playing in shallow water.

“In high school, I played in a shallow-deep pool, so I knew how to use it to my advantage,” Zalewski said. “We are lucky we played George Washington first so the team could work out the kinks before we played the more skilled team: Johns Hopkins.”

Nevertheless, the Tigers were content with the results of Saturday’s games.

“Overall we played well against GW and Johns Hopkins,” Cole said, adding, “We should have won by more against GW.”

Sunday’s results were not as satisfying, as the Tigers suffered a disappointing loss to Navy. In the team’s last matchup against the Midshipmen on Oct. 3, the Tigers came out on top, 7-3.

Navy led until the fourth quarter, when Princeton found the back of the net to knot the score at three. But two man-advantage goals by the Midshipmen gave Navy the victory. Despite the weakness in offensive play, the small win margin was a testament to the Tigers’ strong defensive performance, especially the team’s ability to shut down Navy’s two-meter man.

“Taking the two-meter man out of the game made it hard for Navy to score,” Zalewksi said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to match with the offensive [effort].”

Road games are never easy, but the hectic travel schedule of the weeked made this series of games especially difficult.

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“We basically visited three cities in two days,” Cole said. “The traveling is rough, so coming away with two wins was not bad.”

The Tigers have the next two weekends off to prepare for the upcoming Southern Championships, which will be held at Bucknell on Nov. 6 through Nov. 8. With only two losses in the conference, the Tigers said they hope to have the chance to take on Navy in the final match at Southerns. In the weeks leading up to Southerns, the Tigers will focus heavily on conditioning and game play.

“We have everything we need to win,” Zalewski said. “We just need to put everything together to play all the way across the pool as a team.”