The men’s water polo team’s undefeated league streak was extended and then crushed over the spread of three games this weekend. The No. 17 Tigers (11-7 overall, 5-2 Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division) topped Johns Hopkins (10-10, 2-3) 9-6 in a Saturday afternoon game and then fell to No. 18 Navy (17-5, 5-1) in a 7-6 heartbreaker later that night. The Tigers also lost at Bucknell (8-9, 1-5) on Sunday afternoon, 9-4.
As they have in other games this year, sophomore attack Tommy Donahue and freshman center Ford Spencer got the Tigers off to an early start with goals in the first half. Johns Hopkins responded with three straight goals before freshman attack Kurt Buchbinder and sophomore attack Tim Wenzlau pushed the Tigers ahead 4-3 before the end of the half.
Both teams scored twice in the third quarter, with Princeton’s tallies coming from junior center Mike Helou and Buchbinder. Helou, senior center defender Matt Hale and sophomore center defender Billy Tifft added goals in the last quarter while senior goalie Mike Merlone, who was awarded CWPA Defensive Player of the Week honors last week, held the Blue Jays to just one goal in the final frame. Freshman goalie Ben Dearborn played for the last 3 minutes and 21 seconds of the game, netting two saves in that short period as the Tigers improved to 2–0 this season against Johns Hopkins.
After falling to Princeton in their home pool only three weeks before, the Midshipmen returned the favor, winning in sudden-death overtime. While Princeton got out to an early 3-1 lead, it was held scoreless in the second and fourth quarters of regulation. Both teams scored in the second overtime session to force sudden-victory overtime. After a close attempt from Wenzlau that bounced off the goal, Navy drew an ejection and scored on the man advantage
Donahue, Hale, Helou and freshman center Connor Still all scored once, while junior attack Christofer Cottrell scored twice. Merlone had a remarkable performance in the net despite the loss, racking up 15 saves.
In their last game of the weekend, the Tigers fell into a 3-0 hole after only a quarter. They were down 5-1 at the half and simply could not rally to overcome the Bison. Senior attack Tommy Parolin scored twice, while Cottrell and Wenzlau both scored once. Merlone and Dearborn split net time equally, with Merlone marking two saves and Dearborn stopping six. This was the Tigers’ first lost to Bucknell after beating them twice earlier in the season.
With the two losses, Princeton has fallen from its top spot in the CWPA Southern Division for the first time this season. The Tigers are now one game behind Navy, which had been in second since its loss to Princeton.
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