Princeton travels to Annapolis for Southerns

The No. 13 men’s water polo team begins its postseason this weekend with the CWPA Southern Division tournament in Annapolis, Md. The Tigers (17-4 overall, 7-1 CWPA Southern Division) are seeking their first Southerns win since 2010, having finished second and third in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The team suffered a tough 12-11 loss against Mercyhurst in the semifinals last year, despite leading 10-8 in the fourth quarter. Princeton rides a four-game win streak into the tournament but has not played since Oct. 26.

“Our goal is to be playing the best polo we can. We need to play well as a unit,” head coach Luis Nicolao said. “We’ve got the ability to score, but we’ve lacked defensive focus at times.”

The Southern championship is merely the first of a two-tournament process that ultimately awards its victor with a place in one of two NCAA play-in games, which are new this year. The top four teams from both the Southern and Northern tournaments move on to the Eastern tournament, as well as four at-large teams from either division, which is also a new addition this year. Southern teams will occupy the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth seeds at Easterns, so although it is not necessary for the Tigers to win this weekend, it would help their chances in two weeks. However, it should be noted that Princeton’s last two Eastern titles were not preceded by Southern championships.

“Our ultimate goal is to win Easterns. Southerns [are] not make-or-break,” junior attacker Drew Hoffenberg said. “We’ll be able to work on six-on-five advantage and man-down situations and fine tune our offense.”

Freshman utility Jovan Jeremic took over the team lead in goals from Hoffenberg after Princeton’s last game — with 24 goals in his last six games, he now has 52 on the season to Hoffenberg’s 51. Princeton’s freshman record is 58, set by both Chris Gratian ’01 and Kevin Foster ’03. Jeremic has also scored at least three goals in each of the last four games, a feat not accomplished since 2009 when Mark Zalewski ’10 pulled it off. Hoffenberg leads the team in assists with 29, and his name is at or near the top of almost every statistical category. Sophomore Alex Gow has gotten the lion’s share of minutes in goal and carries a 9-3 record and a .574 save percentage.

“Our team is really good, but it’s all about playing. I’ve had teams that should have made it but didn’t, and teams that shouldn’t have made it but did,” Nicolao said. “The season boils down to November. The first 20 games are preseason.”

The tournament consists of 12 teams, all five from the East Region and all seven from the West Region. Only teams seeded 5-12 play in the first round on Friday, with the winner of each matchup progressing to the Saturday morning quarterfinals against the top four seeds. The tournament follows a single-elimination format, with the loser of each game dropping down into a consolation bracket. Princeton achieved the top seed by virtue of its 7-1 record in the region, having lost only to Bucknell, the second seed and defending champ. Mercyhurst (17-4, 6-0) leads the weaker Western region with a perfect divisional record and has been awarded the third seed. The tournament features two nationally ranked teams: Princeton and No. 19 Bucknell (11-8, 5-3).

Princeton’s first game is Saturday at 9 a.m. and will come against either eighth-seeded Gannon or ninth-seeded Notre Dame College, two Western region teams the Tigers have not seen yet. Should Princeton move on to the semifinals, as it has in every year since 1998, the Tigers would almost certainly face either fifth-seeded Navy or fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins (17-8, 3-5), two familiar East Region foes. Princeton has beaten the hosting Midshipmen (13-14, 2-6) 12-7 away and 16-11 at Denunzio Pool this season. Similarly, the Tigers have bested the Blue Jays 15-10 away and 11-5 at home. Navy beat Johns Hopkins in a 22-17 shootout in Baltimore and also 12-8 at home, accounting for its only wins in the region.

If Princeton makes the final, the Tigers will face the winner of a likely Mercyhurst-Bucknell semifinal. Mercyhurst did manage to beat Bucknell 9-8 in an early season matchup, but the Bison appear to have raised their level of play in the interim. Bucknell started out 1-3 in the East, having beaten only Navy, but rebounded to beat all four regional rivals at home in one weekend, including a 12-5 shellacking of Princeton. Memories of last year still linger, as Bucknell extinguished Princeton’s NCAA hopes in the semifinal with a hard fought 7-6 victory at Denunzio Pool.

“It’s always nice to beat a team like that, but it all comes down to Easterns. I’d rather beat ’em there,” Hoffenberg said.