Men’s WaPo looks to extend unbeated streak along the Chesapeake

Collegiate Men's Water Polo has long been a West Coast affair. Five of the current top 10 teams, according to the most recent Collegiate Water Polo Association poll, come from the University of California system. Four of the remaining sides make their homes along the Pacific Ocean. For the first time since 2004, Princeton (6-0) ranks alongside its California rivals inside the top 10. The Tigers, tied for 8thwith UC San Diego, have surpassed the program-best No. 9 ranking earned back in 2005.

“It means a lot,” junior goalie Alex Gow responded when asked what the ranking meant to his team. “It’s very exciting to be ranked so high early in the season. No. 8 is the highest ranking an eastern team has ever received. That definitely makes us think like we’re onto something. But then again, we’re only six games through the season, and it’s a long season. Our ultimate goal is to win the Eastern Championship.”

This weekend, the Orange and Black will look to extend its undefeated record against a trio of mid-Atlantic opponents in Johns Hopkins (3-3), No. 18 Navy (8-2) and No. 16 George Washington University (6-1). During their 2013 campaign, the Tigers managed a 7-1 record against these three teams, including a 6-0 regular season run. That lone loss, which snapped a six-game win streak, came against Navy in the CWPA Championship semifinals by virtue of a 12-10 decision. In the all-time series, the Midshipmen hold a 35-25 advantage over the Tigers.

Overall, Princeton has dominated the other two sides they will face this weekend. Against the Blue Jays, the record is 37-4. Against the Colonials, that mark is 35-1. However, the Johns Hopkins pool has a reputation for being shallower than is conventional, making the matchup perennially interesting.

“We call this weekend the tour of death,” Gow explained, “because we play in untraditional pools where home field advantage makes a really big difference for these teams. And things have been pretty weird this year in Easterns. Things have been close. Everyone’s beating everyone. So we’re just going to try to stick to our game and not worry too much about what they’re doing.”

This season has indeed been fairly remarkable. Having been just unable to hang with the top of the CWPA last season, George Washington has put together a four-game win streak which began with a thrilling 19-18 overtime win over then-No. 12 St. Francis.

For Princeton, senior co-captain Drew Hoffenberg has provided invaluable leadership thus far. For his efforts in last week’s Brown Fall Classic, the fourth-year attacker earned CWPA Player of the Week honors. After three games, his stat line read: 12 goals, nine drawn ejections, six steals, two blocks and a pair of assists.

A number of the Tigers’ rookies have been remarkable thus far. Freshman attack Jordan Colina earned a spot on the Southern Division Rookie of the Week honor roll for the second consecutive week. His classmate, goalie Viojslav Mitrovic, earned CWPA Southern Defensive Player of the Week honors for his 31 saves and .705 save percentage over two weekend starts.

“What’s impressed me is that everyone’s playing, and everyone’s contributing,” Gow said. “In each game, someone’s stepping up and doing well, whether it’s a big stop from freshman goalie Vioja or a goal from Colina, or great defense from any of the other guys. Everyone’s getting in there and getting quality minutes, which is really key for the freshman class.”

When asked to identify critical factors in this recent run of form, Gow highlighted the defensive end. Currently the Tigers are allowing 8.5 goals per game, an improvement on last year’s mark of nine.

“We are playing great defense, which is usually not our strong suit,” the junior remarked. “But if we can keep playing defense at this level, we’ve got very fast people as well. So we can really be looking to rack up some goals on the counterattack.”

Even on an undefeated streak, a team can find areas of improvement. Maintaining early leads will be an area of focus for the Tigers, as identified by junior utility Bradley Wachtell.

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“Consistency is something for us to improve,” he began. “We’ll play really well to start the first half of a game and sometimes have difficulty keeping it going throughout. We always have a bad quarter, which we need to work on to put together a full four quarters.”

Prospects remain bright for these Tigers, who will look to not only sustain their eastern dominance, but make some noise nationally as the season goes on.

“Our biggest motivator is the prospect of winning the Eastern Championship,” Wachtell said. “Then to go on and do well at NCAAs, maybe win our first ever game there.”