Women’s water polo team completes trip out west

The women’s water polo team has kept up its successful season over the last two weekends, winning seven of their eight games over spring break. These are the last games before the Tigers play six straight intra-conference games, leading up to the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championships.

It appears the Tigers (21-2 overall, 4-0 CWPA) look ready to go as their postseason begins to draw near. Their trip to California over spring break featured all-around strong performances from players across the team. In the team’s first game, taking on University of the Pacific, the leading scorer was freshman utility Haley Wan with three goals. Wan’s freshman season has been an impressive one – she leads the team in starts, with 21, and is fifth on the team in goals, with 22. Wan supplemented her three goals with two assists, as the Tigers went on to win comfortably 10-5.

Princeton’s next game, against the University of California, San Diego, was more of a struggle. Despite heading into intermission behind 5-3, UCSD came roaring back, taking a 9-8 lead in the waning minutes of the game. The Tigers, however, would not give in and scored the final two goals of the game to win 10-9. The top scorers on the day for Princeton were senior utility Taylor Dunstan, freshman two-meter Chelsea Johnson and sophomore center defender Morgan Hallock, each with two goals apiece. Wan had another impressive performance, contributing 5 assists.

At this point, the Tigers had a 14-game win streak behind them, their last loss having come back in early February. This streak, however, came to an end against No. 8-ranked University of Hawaii. In their third game at the Aztec Invitational, the Tigers found themselves in the unusual position of being down at halftime, trailing 3-1. While they were able to close the gap in the waning minutes of the game, they would nevertheless just fall short, losing 6-7. Leading the Tigers in scoring were senior utilities Jessie Holechek and Ashley Hatcher, each with two.

In a jam-packed schedule like this, however, there is little rest for the weary. When interviewed, Hallock commented on not only the intensity of the game but also the need to quickly brush off losses: “It was a good game against a great team, [but when] playing multiple game tournaments every weekend, you really have to be able to let go of the last game and pick up another one a couple hours later. We’re fairly experienced … in being able to learn from our mistakes … and keep moving.”

The Tigers showed this resilience and ability to improve on past performances soon after this loss, as they faced the host San Diego State University. This was another low-scoring, defensive struggle, with the Tigers coming out victorious with a score of 6-4. In addition to Hatcher, who scored two goals, junior goalie Ashleigh Johnson is to thank for this Tiger win. The All-American put up 16 saves against the Aztecs to help bring the Tigers to victory.

After a grueling first event, the second part of their trip, the Loyola Marymount University Invitational, was relatively lighter. The Tigers swept in their 4 games, with most being easier than the trials they endured at the Aztec Invitational. The one exception was against California Baptist University, against whom the Tigers faced another halftime deficit, down 7-4. However, unlike in their game against Hawaii, they would go on to beat CBU and take the game 11-9. The rest of the games came out to be a fair amount easier than the contests the Tigers had endured previously — they defeated LMU, Concordia and Whittier with scores of 11-6, 16-5 and 13-6, respectively.

With sunny California behind them, the Tigers will prepare to take on George Washington University, the first of their upcoming six-game stretch against league opponents. Hallock noted that while the focus in California was more on just getting through the slew of tough teams thrown at them, the focus for the Tigers now is internal development: “In California, we wanted to focus on our opponents, but I think that from here on it’s going to be more about us … [on how] to be able to play our game the next five-six weeks … we [will] keep training and playing hard ... now we’ll focus on more technical things to get better”.

The ultimate goal for the Tigers is not too far in the distance. They will compete in their first CWPA Championship match April 24; winning that tournament will send them on to the NCAA Championships, a stage they last reached in 2013. The Tigers were tantalizingly close to another appearance in the tournament last season, but were taken down in the final round of the CWPA Championships by the Indiana Hoosiers.

As with this season, the Tigers had a phenomenal record last year, going 31-2 overall. However, as Hallock pointed out, a few games in the season count for so much: “Ultimately, it’s not about how many games you lose, but which games you win … the ultimate goal [for the team] is to win, and win the right games.”