Women's Water Polo: Victory over Harvard seals 3rd place in ECAC Championships

Over the course of the ECAC tournament, which began in 2000, Princeton has won first place seven times and placed second once. After finishing second last year, the Tigers entered this season’s tournament with the top seed.

On the first day, Princeton first faced off against Wagner. Going into the tournament, the Tigers had never lost a game to Wagner and did not lose one this weekend. From the opening whistle, the Tigers dominated the pool, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and never trailing. Freshman Katie Rigler tallied two assists and three goals while junior goalie Grace du Pont made seven saves.

Later that afternoon, Princeton took on Maryland in the semifinals. The last time these two teams met in the pool, Princeton walked away with a one-point victory. Though this weekend’s game was again decided by one point, it was the Terrapins who came out on top.

In such a close game, Maryland ended the first quarter ahead by one point. Princeton then tied it up at the half and took a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter. In the final period, however, the Terrapins scored four goals to Princeton’s two and won the game.

Rigler was the high scorer again with a three-goal game. Ward and du Pont shared the goal equally with five and four saves, respectively.

“After the tough loss to Maryland we were able to learn from our mistakes and make a strong showing against Harvard,” Rigler said.

On Sunday, Princeton made light work of Harvard in the third-place match, scoring five goals in both the first and third periods en route to a blowout win. Sophomore Rachele Gyoffry, freshman Molly McBee and Rigler all added two points to the win. Netminder du Pont made seven saves in 27 minutes of play and freshman Erin Glenn saved one shot in her five minutes. Harvard had a hard time finding the back of the cage, scoring two of its three goals on man-up advantage plays.

“I am excited about the direction the ladies are heading,” Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao said. “I know we learned a lot this weekend that will only make us better later in the season.”

After their performance at the Princeton Invitational earlier this month, junior goalie Kristen Ward and sophomore attack Brittany Zwirner were recognized by the Collegiate Water Polo Association. Over four games, Ward made 26 saves to earn the honor of Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week. In the field, Zwirner had 11 steals, five assists and eight goals — one of which won an overtime game in sudden death — to earn the honor of Southern Division Player of the Week.

The Tigers will play again next weekend at DeNunzio Pool, hosting Indiana University, George Washington and Hartwick College.