Women's Water Polo: Princeton to face UCLA in second NCAA tournament

After its second consecutive Eastern Championships title two weeks ago, the women’s water polo team will make its second consecutive and second-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament this weekend. The sixth-seeded Tigers (26-5 overall, 5-0 CWPA Southern) will face third-seeded UCLA in their attempt to give Princeton’s up-and-coming program its first ever trip to the semifinals.

Last year, junior utility Katie Rigler and the Tigers reached the tournament for the first time in program history. Despite this accomplishment, they were demolished by USC in the first round but beat Iona in the consolation game before losing to Loyola Marymount to finish sixth out of eight teams.

“I think it would be absolutely huge for us,” sophomore utility Ashley Hatcher said of a first-round win. “Certainly we know where we stand on the expectations.”

The Bruins (26-6, 3-3 MPSF) are one of many California water polo teams that typically dominate the sport. The Tigers have held their own against their West Coast opponents this year, however, losing a tight game to then-No. 4 Cal at the start of the season and going 5-3 during consecutive visits to California in March which included wins over then-No. 16 UC Davis and then-No. 13 Cal State Northridge.

After taking place in San Diego last year, the tournament will be held in Cambridge this time around, which can only be an advantage for the East Coast teams that don’t have to travel across the country to play.

The Bruins are making their ninth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, and won the entire tournament five of those years. They have won the most national titles with seven and have an impressive 26-4 record in tournament play.

“We’re coming in as the underdogs and we really have nothing to lose,” Hatcher said. “We came out fired up against Cal, No. 4, in our first game of the season so we think we can really give them a good game.”

UCLA has allowed only their opponent to reach double digit goals three times this year, twice to USC, thanks to a defense led by goalkeeper Sami Hill, who is second in the MPSF with 10.71 saves per game. The Bruins’ offense, known for its ability to counter-attack, is led by Emily Donohoe and Rachel Fattal, who have 63 and 62 goals on the season, respectively. Princeton’s leading scorer, Rigler, has 61. In what is sure to be a tough fight, Donohoe and Fattal will face Tiger freshman goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson, who boasts a save percentage of .67.

The two teams have played each other five times in their history, with the Bruins coming out on top in all five of those games. However, the two teams not have played each other since doing so twice in 2005.

Hatcher is confident that a win over UCLA could set Princeton on track to finish high in the national rankings and believes that the experience of making the tournament last year will help this year’s team.

“Last year we were just so excited that we made the tournament that we kind of stopped there,” she said. “We’ve set our goals a little higher.”

Last year, it did appear the Tigers were a little underprepared for the big stage as they only scored twice in their first-ever tournament game while allowing 14 goals and only recording three saves. Princeton appeared to get more comfortable as the tournament progressed however, recording 20 goals and 15 saves over their last two games.

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The Tigers will be hoping that Johnson will be ready for her first NCAA tournament game as she did not gain the experience last year as she is a freshman. Johnson has been able to take on most challenges she has faced so far this year, and the Tigers will need her to be at her best if they are to hand UCLA only their second loss against a team that's not Stanford or USC.

Rigler will also need to be on top of her game for the Tigers to have a chance at the upset. After being held scoreless against USC last year, she scored seven goals in the final two games.

Princeton will take on UCLA in the first round of the tournament on Friday at 3:30 pm. The winner of the match will take on the winner of Stanford/Iona, while the two losers will face each other in the consolation round.