Women's water polo captures inaugural Ivy League Championship

It seems women’s aquatic sports can do no wrong this year. Just as the women’s swimming and diving team claimed an Ivy League Championship, the women’s water polo team claimed victory in the first Ivy League Championship for the sport.

The Tigers, ranked No. 14 in the nation, have opened with seven wins in their first eight games, and have firmly established themselves as the best water polo team in the Ivy League. Indeed, of the six other women’s water polo squads at this tournament, four of them only have club status (Dartmouth, Penn, Cornell and Columbia). The other two, Harvard and Brown, are not ranked in the top 20. From the beginning, it seemed that Princeton would be a threat to totally run away with the event.

Their first matchup against the Dartmouth Big Green indicated as such. The team from New Hampshire was absolutely outclassed at DeNunzio Pool, falling to the Tigers 12-1. As Dartmouth is a club team, the win will not go on the Tigers’ record. The Big Green might be happy that their results won’t go on anyone’s record; in addition to the loss against Princeton, they received a 14-0 drubbing by the Harvard team as well.

The final round on the day featured Princeton against the Brown Bears, who got into the final round by edging the Harvard Crimson 6-5. The Bears may have been seeded second in the tournament, but the skill difference between they and the Tigers is apparent. Brown came into the tournament just 1-2. Moreover, this team had not proven much of a matchup for the Tigers last season, as they lost to the tune of 11-4 and 11-6.

This time, however, the game would prove to be much closer. The first part of the match was a heated battle, with the Tigers unable to pull away from the visiting team. The Tigers would end the first half up only 4-3. Not until the second half would the Tigers begin to extend their lead, ultimately seizing victory with a 9-4 final score.

On the game, the hero of the day was senior utility Jessie Holechek. Holechek, who leads the Tigers in goals on the season (18), put in four goals on an efficient six shots. She was aided by the strong showing of freshman utility Haley Wan, who racked up three goals and an assist. Wan’s work on the season has certainly been impressive —in her rookie season, she stands 5thon the team in goals and 1stin both assists and steals. To round it off, junior utility Kimi Klein and senior utility Taylor Dunstan scored a goal apiece. For Klein, it was her 9thon the season, placing her as 4thleading goal scorer on the squad.

Next weekend, the Tigers will travel to Lewisburg, Pa. to take on a few more intra-conference opponents. They will play conference rivals Bucknell University, and the No. 20 ranked Hartwick College on Saturday the 28th before facing Gannon University and Mercyhurst College on the 1st of March.