Men's Water Polo: Princeton hits road aiming to repeat as Eastern champions

This weekend the men’s water polo team will travel to Lewisburg, Pa., for the Eastern Championship. The top four teams from the Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern and Northern divisions will compete for a bid to the NCAA tournament and the chance to play in the Final Four. The No. 16 Tigers (17-7 overall, 6-2 CWPA Southern Division) won the top seed in the Southern Division by defeating No. 17 Bucknell (12-14, 2-6) at the Southern Championship. At Easterns this weekend, Princeton will face Massachusetts Institute of Technology (12-10), the No. 4 seed from the Northern Division.

MIT and Princeton competed previously in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Association Championship in September. The Tigers held the Engineers scoreless in the first half and controlled the game for an easy win.

Princeton entered the 2010 season ranked No. 14 in the nation, and the Tigers stayed in the top 20 throughout the season. In the Eastern Conference, Princeton has consistently been ranked as one of the top three teams. The Tigers will enter Easterns as the No. 2 team, behind No. 13 St. Francis (21-3), the top seed in the Northern Division.

St. Francis and Princeton met twice this season. Both times, the Terriers defeated the Tigers in close games. At the ECAC Championship, Princeton lost by one goal. The Tigers narrowly missed tying the game when they found the back of the cage just after time had expired. In California, Princeton trailed for most of the game. However, the Tigers fought hard to halve their four-goal deficit to two in the fourth quarter.

Depending on the result of its game against MIT, Princeton will play either No. 18 Navy (23-6, 7-1) or No. 19 Brown (13-9) in the following round.

Brown and Princeton faced off in the finals of the Ivy League championship. In a rough game filled with exclusions, the Tigers defeated the Bears in overtime. After the first overtime period was held scoreless, Brown scored and Princeton answered with two goals to take the win.

Navy and Princeton have a score to settle. They played each other twice this season, both in night games. When the Midshipmen hosted the Tigers, Princeton won by one goal. Down three goals in the third quarter, the Tigers scored four unanswered goals for the win. When the Tigers hosted the Midshipmen, Navy won in sudden-death overtime. Tied at the end of regulation play, both teams scored one goal in overtime play, but the Midshipmen scored on a man-up advantage in sudden death to win the nightcap.

The Tigers may face Fordham (16-14), the third seed in the Northern Division, as well as Bucknell and Johns Hopkins (16-14, 4-4), who have the second and fourth seeds, respectively, in the Southern Division.

Fordham and Princeton previously faced each other at the Princeton Invitational in September. The Tigers made easy work of the Rams, jumping to a five-goal lead in the first six minutes of play.

Bucknell and Princeton have played each other the most this season, with Princeton winning three of the four matchups. In the first two games, the Tigers controlled the pool for decisive wins. Princeton lost, however, when the Bison took a three-goal lead in the first quarter of their third meeting. In their most recent meeting, in the finals of the Southern Championship, Princeton trailed through the half but pulled ahead in the fourth quarter to win the tournament and the top seed for Easterns.

Johns Hopkins and Princeton met three times this season, with Princeton coming out on top each time.

Big performances should be expected from many of the players on Princeton’s squad. This week, senior goalie Mike Merlone was named Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week, and freshman attack Kurt Buchbinder was named Southern Division Rookie of the Week. Over the course of the season, senior center defender Matt Hale and sophomore attack Tim Wenzlau both received Southern Division Player of the Week honors. Sophomore attack Tommy Donahue leads the Tigers as the team’s top scorer, followed closely by junior attack Chris Cottrell, Wenzlau and junior center Mike Helou. All have scored more than 30 goals this season.