Women's Water Polo: Team has mixed results on California tour

Entering their spring break tour with a 6-4 record, the Tigers went 5-4 over the course of the week, with their four losses coming in tight games against Top 10-ranked teams. In those four losses, Princeton was outscored by just seven goals combined, losing three times by two points and once by one point.

Over the course of the week, freshman defender Katie Rigler scored 21 goals while freshman utility Molly McBee, sophomore center Saranna Soroka and sophomore attack Brittany Zwirner all scored eight goals. Rigler, along with McBee and senior attack Cari Levine, led the team with six assists. In goal, junior Kristen Ward tallied 77 saves during this spring break tour.

Last Tuesday, Rigler was named CWPA Southern Division Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week. This honor is her second as Rookie of the Week and she is the only person in the past three years to receive both Player or the Week and Rookie of the Week.

Princeton opened its first tournament of spring break with a 13-12 overtime win against University of California, San Diego (8-12) and an 8-7 defeat of California State University Bakersfield (4-19). On Sunday, the Tigers fell 6-8 to No. 5 Hawaii (10-5) and 8-9 to No. 9 San Jose State University (15-8).

Princeton and UCSD battled for the lead throughout their opening game, with momentum swinging between the two teams during the match. A Princeton goal forced an overtime period that saw five goals in six minutes, with the Tigers finding the back of the cage three times to secure the win.

In the Tigers’ first night game, Cal State came out strong, taking and maintaining the lead for the first half. Princeton, however, took control of the match in the third quarter, scoring four goals, earning the lead and defeating the Roadrunners.

On the second day of the Aztec Invitational, Hawaii seemed to be in complete control, boasting a five-goal lead at the half. The Tigers, though, found their strength in the third quarter of the game, this time scoring four goals. This boost was not enough, however, to steal the lead from the Rainbow Wahine.

Later that day, Princeton was defeated by SJSU. At the end of the third quarter, the Tigers were down 3-6 to the Spartans but scored five goals in the fourth quarter to even the score. With just over two seconds left, the Tigers lost as SJSU notched the game-winning goal.

On their way up to Los Angeles, the Tigers stopped to take on Concordia University (16-16). After earning a two-goal lead in the first quarter, the Tigers led the Eagles for the rest of the game. Against a strong Princeton defense, Concordia only found the back of the cage once in nine man-up opportunities. Princeton won 11-5.

In their second and final tournament of their California tour — the Loyola Marymount University Invitational — Princeton split its games on Friday and Saturday. On the first day, the Tigers lost 5-7 to No. 10 Long Beach State University (11-11) and defeated California State University, San Bernardino (7-10) by an 11-6 margin. On the second day, the Tigers beat Sonoma State University (6-22) by a score of 13-4, but fell 6-8 to No. 6 Loyola Marymount University (16-4).

Princeton fought hard to stay in its match against Long Beach State to open the tournament. Trailing by four goals at the half, the Tigers came back strong to close the game, scoring four of their five goals against the 49ers in the second stanza.

Entering the final day of its spring break tour, Princeton easily defeated Sonoma State. Outscoring the Seawolves in each quarter, the Tigers never trailed, and they led by eight goals in the third quarter.

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Against tournament host Loyola Marymount, Princeton got off to a slow start, trailing 0-3 at the beginning of the second quarter. Staying strong in the middle sections of the game, the Tigers took a one-goal lead in the third quarter. The Lions evened the score and took the lead on a goal with two minutes remaining. Princeton was unable to tie again, and LMU widened the margin to two with a clinching goal with 13 seconds remaining.