Women's Water Polo: Tigers look to avenge losses

The team has already faced Bucknell three times this season, emerging victorious once and losing twice. The most recent of these losses was an 11-9 heartbreaker in the final match of the Southern Championships. Despite falling behind, 6-1, early in the second period, the Tigers fought back and almost leveled the match at 10 apiece before the Bison scored an 11th point with a minute remaining to seal the victory.

In seeking a different result in this weekend’s rematch, the Tigers’ attacking unit will need to be more cohesive. The team’s leading scorer, senior driver and tri-captain Phoebe Champion, will need to play a bigger role in the offensive end this weekend, as will fellow senior driver and tri-captain Carolina Ardila, who scored two goals last weekend.

The Tigers must also elevate their game during man-advantage situations, a part of their play that has floundered recently.

“Last game, we missed our first three. If we had made them, they would have changed the flow of the game,” Ardila said.

“Our man-up offense has not been very strong lately, but it is a vital part of the game,” freshman driver Brittany Zwirner noted. “Scoring on man-up can change the entire flow of a game.”

Champion echoed that sentiment, saying, “We definitely need to do a better job of converting our six-on-fives. I think we became too focused on what play we were running instead of looking for the open player or the person with the best angle.”

Though the Tigers have struggled to capitalize on these chances in particular, Princeton’s attack must take advantage of any scoring opportunities that come its way. Champion, who leads the team in goals (51), and Zwirner, who ranks second (45), will both look to add to their scoring totals as the season winds to a close while working to take down the Bison. Veteran leadership, provided in large part by tri-captains Ardila, Champion and senior driver Helen Meigs, will also be a crucial component to success this weekend. In addition, the team will need to solidify its defense against the Bison’s strong attacking unit.

“I think [the Bison] play together well and attack well as a team,” Champion said. “To counter this, we just need to make sure we play our defense first, pressing and helping rather than dropping, and let that dictate the game.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Kristen Ward had her hands full last weekend. Despite coming up huge at the end of the previous evening’s matchup against Maryland, Ward struggled against Bucknell, as the Bison had too many opportunities on goal. This is one problem that the Tigers will have some help fixing this weekend, as junior center defender Tanya Wilcox, who according to Ardila “is incredibly important to our defensive end,” will return to the pool.

Finally, getting off to a strong start will be crucial to the Tigers’ chances at success.

“We need to put our first few possessions away early and not grab bathing suits as much, because that contributed to many of our man-down possessions,” Ardila said.

If the Tigers are up to these difficult tasks on Friday, they have an excellent shot at avenging last weekend’s loss.