Men's Water Polo: No. 17 Princeton tops Bison

The team has gotten off to a strong start in the CWPA Southern Division. Senior center defender and co-captain Matt Hale and sophomore attack Tim Wenzlau have earned CWPA Southern Player of the Week honors this season, while senior goalie and co-captain Mike Merlone has won Defensive Player of the Week and freshman attack Kurt Buchbinder has won Rookie of the Week.

The Tigers topped the rival Bison earlier this season, completing a 9-6 win on Sept. 19. Princeton’s performance in this game was even more impressive. “The first time we met up with them this year at ECACs in Boston, it felt like we made a lot of stupid mistakes on both offense and defense,” sophomore attack Tommy Donahue said in an e-mail. “When we were given chances to take control of the game, we just weren’t able to put our shots away. This past weekend felt like a different story to me.”

Princeton jumped ahead early in Saturday’s game, as junior attack Chris Cottrell and senior attack Tommy Parolin both scored in the first quarter. The Bison tallied one goal in the second period before Cottrell and Donahue netted goals to put the Tigers up 4-1 at the half.

“We had a couple good plays early on that we were able to convert on, which put us ahead and gave us the momentum,” Donahue said. “Our defense was working for us that day and we just weren’t allowing them any opportunities to get points on the board.”

After junior center Mike Helou opened the second half with another goal, Bucknell rallied in the third quarter, converting twice. Wenzlau tallied one to make the score 6-3, but the Bison kept fighting and scored again at the end of the third quarter. But Merlone recorded 14 saves and held the Bison scoreless in the fourth quarter, as Donahue notched yet another goal. Merlone also recorded an assist in the win.

In addition to their contributions to the score sheet, Donahue recorded two assists and Cottrell added one.

Donahue is now the leading scorer on the team, with 23 goals this season and a 0.411 shot percentage. Wenzlau also broke into the 20s this weekend, while Helou and Cottrell notched their 19th and 18th goals of the season, respectively.

The Tigers have recently been working on getting more players to step up on offense. Donahue attributed the increased scoring to the team’s conditioning.

“It all comes down to our ability to finish our shots, and lately we’ve had a bunch of guys that are finding the back of the net,” he said. “If you’re in top shape, then you have the ability to get out in the pool and give it everything you have for as long as your team needs [it].”

The Tigers hope to build on their superior conditioning as they welcome a pair of CWPA Southern Division rivals to DeNunzio Pool next Saturday.

Princeton faces Johns Hopkins at 12:30 p.m. and then plays Navy at 7:30 p.m. in the nightcap of its doubleheader. Earlier this season, the Tigers topped both these teams on the road.

In Johns Hopkins’ abnormally small pool, Princeton rallied from a 7-6 deficit at the end of the third quarter to win 10-9 in overtime. Sophomore center defender Jack Ruth scored the winning goal in extra time. Cottrell, Donahue and Hale all scored two goals in the win.

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Against Navy, the Tigers used a four-goal rally in the later stages of the game to earn a 7-6 win. Princeton trailed 6-3 in the middle of the third quarter, but a pair of fourth-quarter goals from Wenzlau sparked the squad to a rare road win in Annapolis, Md. Merlone stopped five shots in the victory.

If Princeton can replicate its successful performance in Maryland, the team will move closer to wrapping up the regular season CWPA Southern Division title and the first seed in the Southern Championships that comes with the honor.