Men's Water Polo: Bison pull away in 4th for victory at DeNunzio

On Saturday, after playing away for a month, the No. 13 men’s water polo team opened DeNunzio’s doors for a homecoming game against No. 19 Bucknell. The last time these two teams met was last season, during the Eastern Championships at Bucknell, where Princeton won by one goal. But this time, back in Tiger territory, the Bison took control of the game in the fourth quarter and won 10-6.

As soon as the first whistle blew, Princeton was ready to go. Taking control of the ball from the start, the Tigers took the lead with a goal not even a minute and a half into the game. Junior center defender Billy Tifft found the back of the cage with help from junior attack Tim Wenzlau. Less than a minute later, however, Bucknell evened the score 1-1 on a man-advantage situation. The Bison then took their first lead of the game with a goal off a 2-meter attempt. Not allowing Princeton to end the quarter down, junior attack Tommy Donahue scored the first of his three goals to end the period at 2-2.

Within the first minute of the second quarter, Donahue scored again to give Princeton a 3-2 lead. However, following his goal, Bucknell found the back of the Tigers’ cage twice to put the Bison ahead 4-3. This time, Princeton’s freshmen stepped up to keep the game even at the half. Freshman attack Drew Hoffenberg passed to fellow freshman center Thomas Nelson, who forced the ball past Bucknell goalie Matt Napleton, a three-time Defensive Player of the Week.

To start the third quarter, Donahue tallied his third goal of the game and propelled Princeton into its last lead, 5-4. But here in the second half of the game, Bucknell began to hit its stride. After scoring two goals, the Bison ended the third quarter with a 6-5 lead.

Princeton only trailed by one goal — not unusual in this game in which the lead oscillated between the opponents. However, after winning the fourth quarter swim-off, the Bison retained their man-advantage from the previous period and tallied another goal. For the first time in the game, a two-goal lead was established. Bucknell saw its chance at winning and Princeton saw the possibility of a loss.

Though the game was far from over, Princeton struggled to stay mentally focused while Bucknell took advantage of the Tigers’ mistakes. The Bison scored again for a total of four unanswered goals, taking a three-goal lead at 8-5. Freshman center Kayj Shannon found the back of the cage on a man-advantage situation, but his goal was the Tigers’ last. Bucknell scored twice more and ended the game for a 10-6 victory — a big win for the Bison, which are now in first place in the CWPA Southern Division, and a frustrating loss for the Tigers.

“They just played harder than we did. I give them a lot of credit,” head coach Luis Nicolao said. “Mentally, we did not play to the best of our ability.”

The Tigers have a week to toughen up and prove this loss to be a fluke. On Friday, Princeton heads back into Bison territory for a night game against Bucknell. They then return to DeNunzio, where they will face Johns Hopkins and Navy over the weekend.