Men's Water Polo: Merlone, Helou lead successful Southern sojourn

Generally, when a team graduates eight seniors, bumps in the road are a rite of passage on the path to recovery. Apparently, someone forgot to tell that to the men’s water polo team.

Princeton (8-2 overall, 3-0 Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division) opened conference play with three wins in Maryland and Washington this weekend. The No. 17 Tigers posted tight wins in a difficult Saturday doubleheader, topping Johns Hopkins (7-6, 1-1) 10-9 in overtime in Baltimore before defeating No. 18 Navy (14-5, 1-1) 7-6 in the nightcap at Annapolis, Md. The following day, Princeton made it a clean sweep with a 13-9 win over George Washington (5-9, 1-1).

“I think it’s a lot of factors,” senior center defender Matt Hale said when asked about his team’s success. “We lost a lot of weapons last year. A lot of guys have stepped up and we start playing as a team really early in the game. We have a lot of team camaraderie and everyone’s kind of on the same page.”

Princeton’s league opener against Johns Hopkins was a back-and-forth affair. The Blue Jays used a 5-2 scoring spree in the third quarter to put the visitors in a one-goal hole heading into the final period of regulation. In overtime, sophomore center defender Jack Ruth rifled a shot into the Johns Hopkins net on a six-on-five possession to provide the winning margin in the Tigers’ 10-9 win.

“[Johns Hopkins] punished us for our mistakes in the third quarter,” Hale said. “We lost some composure. We’re a young team and that’s bound to happen. What’s surprising is we got it back and came together in the fourth quarter. The key thing was [senior goalie] Mike [Merlone] blocked two five-meter penalty shots and either one of those would have settled the game for Johns Hopkins.”

The team had little time to celebrate Ruth’s heroics, however, as Princeton quickly boarded a bus for Annapolis to face perennial East Coast powerhouse contender Navy. The last time the two teams had faced off, the Tigers ended up with a thrilling 5-4 win in the finals of the Eastern Championships in Cambridge, Mass.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Midshipmen held a 6-4 lead and it looked like the team might exact some revenge in their home pool. The final quarter proved a different story, however, as three Princeton goals and a stifling defense gave the visitors their second win of the day. Sophomore attack Tim Wenzlau scored the Tigers’ final two goals of the game.

In the final game of the road trip, Princeton provided itself with a little more breathing room in a 13-9 win at George Washington. The Tigers took a 7-3 lead by halftime and never looked back in their most decisive win of the weekend. Junior center Mike Helou provided the margin of victory with a team-leading four goals.

“This team, more than any other team I’ve been a part of at Princeton, is extremely gritty,” Hale said. “We fight tooth and nail, and that’s what won us both our games on Saturday.”