“A lot of goalies shy away from face hits, but Mike loves getting hit in the face,” senior defender and co-captain Matt Hale said. “He takes hits to the face like a champ. He gets fired up over it.”
Merlone’s defensive dome showed its use most evidently in a game against Navy last season. A sizzling shot from a Navy attackman tipped two separate hands on its way toward the goal, and changing directions too quickly for Merlone to protect himself. The ball slammed into his face and sent his head reeling backward, but he launched the ball away from the goal for an important save.
“I’ve been hit in the face a lot now,” Merlone said. “But [after that] I was like, all right, let me calm down a second.”
“That’s the mark of a good goalie,” Hale added. “He wants to block it any way.”
Hale, who has played with Merlone since their high school days in California, noticed early on that his goalie tends to play better after a blow to the head. Now the team cheers wildly and encourages Merlone much more after a hit to the face than in other situations.
“Once they realized it, they jinxed it,” Merlone joked.
Merlone’s head has helped him become one of the top goalies in the country, and he has started for the Tigers since his sophomore year. His name rests at the top of the Princeton record books for the most career saves, and he was named first-team All-Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Conference and first-team All-Eastern Tournament after his sophomore year. In last year’s Eastern Championship finals, Merlone’s eight saves limited Navy to just four goals as Princeton won the Eastern title 5-4.
This season, Merlone’s .572 save percentage is the highest of his career, and he has already set career highs in assists and steals, with 18 and 31, respectively.
Merlone, who stands just under 6 feet, succeeds despite his size by using speed, smarts and the knowledge of his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses.
“He will talk about how people on their team shoot, how they release, how they fake,” Hale explained. “He’s a student of the game and he notices these details, which helps him react to these shots so well.”
Merlone’s other body parts help him out as well. After winning Easterns last year, the Tigers went on to play Loyola Marymount in the NCAA third place game. Early in the first quarter, the Lions were awarded a key penalty shot that could have swung the early momentum in their favor. The close shot hit Merlone in the arm and ricocheted high in the air, landing all the way back in the middle of the pool.
“It was a defining moment for him,” Hale said.
The Tigers went on to win that game 6-5, in what Merlone described as his career highlight.
Merlone began playing water polo in high school and became the starting goalie during his junior year. After switching from junior varsity team to varsity, Merlone said he was initially the weak link on the team and played one of the worst tournaments of his life. His coach, who specialized in working with goalies, called him out in front of the team, causing Merlone to reflect on his own performance.
“It flipped a switch for me and I never looked back,” Merlone explained. “It was a turning point.”
The next week, Merlone led his team to an upset victory over a supposedly stronger team. He went on to be named a first-team All-American his senior year.
And while his springy, disheveled hair gives him a unique Samson-like strength, Merlone is attempting to pass the power of his head on to others on the team. Last year, Merlone and two senior goalkeepers did a practice drill in which they headed the ball back and forth in the water, and this year he has continued the tradition with the freshmen goalies.
As co-captain, Merlone has been a mentor for two of those freshmen, Tyler Amina and Ben Dearborn. The future goalies’ success rests on whatever passes from Merlone’s head to their heads, be it a water polo ball or information.
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