The Tigers are sure to be tested in Los Angeles at the SoCal Tournament, as 13 of the top 14 teams in the nation will be participating. In a bracket with No. 2 University of California, Los Angeles (5-1), No. 7 Pacific (6-2) and No. 10 Loyola Marymount University (6-5), Princeton drew UCLA for its first game. At last year’s tournament, UCLA was runner-up to University of Southern California, the current top-ranked team.
The last time Princeton and UCLA faced off was the Tigers’ opening game last season. The Bruins rolled over Princeton in the Tigers’ home pool, 17-4. Princeton will look to return the favor on Saturday morning, with UCLA as the host this time.
The Bruins’ only loss so far this season came in the finals of the NorCal Tournament two weeks ago in a close 11-10 loss to USC. UCLA has managed at least 10 goals in all five of its wins this year.
The Tigers will look to shut down senior attacker Ben Hohl, who earned second-team All-America honors and was named first-team All-NCAA Tournament. Hohl leads the Bruins’ offense with 16 goals this season, scoring at least twice in all but one game this season. Hohl will be assisted by attack Cristiano Mirarchi, who tallied five goals against Stanford and is second to Hohl in scoring.
The Tigers’ offense will counter with sophomore attacks Tommy Donahue and Tim Wenzlau, who lead the team this year with 21 and 17 goals, respectively. Senior center defender Matt Hale, who leads the team with 24 steals and 14 assists, will look to repeat his performance in last year’s game against UCLA, when he scored a goal.
Andrew Mesesan has started all six games in goal for the Bruins this season and has totaled 36 saves. Mesesan has a 7.76 goals-against average, however, which the Tigers’ offense will look to capitalize on.
Fellow junior goalkeeper Mike Merlone will also start and look to top the seven saves he managed in the first half of play of the teams’ matchup last year. Merlone has a .576 save percentage this year.
Depending on the first-round results, Princeton will face either Pacific or Loyola Marymount in its second game. Last year, at a similar tournament in Newport Beach, Calif., Princeton dropped a game to then-No. 13 Pacific, 7-5.
The Tigers faced then-No. 6 Loyola Marymount in the third-place game of the NCAA Tournament last year, defeating the Lions 6-5 in a thriller at DeNunzio Pool for the program’s first-ever NCAA win.
The Tigers will progress into a different pool after Saturday and play two more games on Sunday. After a weekend of games against California’s best, Princeton will likely return home with a clearer idea of where it stands against the top teams in the country.
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