After a disappointing loss to then-No. 12 Indiana, the women’s water polo team, currently ranked 12th in the nation, returned to the pool this weekend and proved that it had learned from its mistakes. The Tigers won five games in three days, including their first shutout of the season and a four-game sweep at the CWPA/MAAC Crossover in Villanova, Pa.
Freshman goalie Ashleigh Johnson blocked 18 shots in the first game of the weekend, when Princeton downed Brown at DeNunzio Pool 15-4. The next day, she and teammates junior Katie Rigler and senior Brittany Zwirner outdid themselves, keeping Siena from landing a single shot in a 12-0 thrashing that saw the Saints make only eight shots on goal.
Johnson saw the shutout as a product of the team’s philosophy that if you have a solid defense, a productive offense will follow.
“I think that we just picked up our defense — it was really solid,” Johnson said. “We haven’t really been focusing on offense all season; it’s all been about defense, and it just clicked in that game.”Junior utility Molly McBee and sophomore utility Jessie Holecheck both had three goals in the win, which was Princeton’s first shutout since Feb. 7, 2009, when the Tigers beat Villanova 14-0 in DeNunzio.
The easiest victory of the weekend was followed by the most difficult. The Tigers led Iona 8-3 at the half, but the Gaels did not go quietly. Despite a halftime deficit, Iona came out firing and found the back of the net five times in the third quarter. Princeton managed to survive the onslaught, answering with three goals in the third and matching Iona’s three in the final period to win 14-11. Rigler led the Tigers in the game with five goals, and sophomore utility Taylor Dunstan racked up four of the team’s eight assists. The 11 goals were also the most allowed by Johnson so far in her short career.
Princeton scored 14 points in each of its Sunday wins. Once again, Johnson kept the lead comfortable, stopping 12 shots made by Wagner. Seven of those blocks came during the second half, in which Princeton’s lead grew from 6-4 to 14-8.
Johnson blanked Villanova in two quarters of work in the final game of the weekend. Her perfect performance coincided with an eight-goal half for the Tigers, who sealed the Wildcats’ fate early and ultimately won 14-4. Freshman utility Pippa Temple led Princeton with three goals.
After a busy weekend, the Tigers will have plenty of time to rest before their next game on March 8 against George Washington. The week after that, they will enter the most challenging part of their schedule so far — two consecutive weekends of tournaments on the West Coast, playing against top-notch California teams.
Johnson said she felt her team had grown over the weekend.
“Since these teams weren’t as hard as other teams we’re going to play, we really got to practice the fundamentals,” she said. “We got to work out the plays that we want to execute against other teams, like the California teams.”
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