Women's water polo sweeps opening weekend

The women’s water polo team kicked off the season on a strong note this weekend, rattling off wins over California Baptist, Villanova, California Lutheran and Iona at the Princeton Invitational.

The run began with a thrilling come-from-behind win over the California Baptist Lancers (7-5). The Tigers trailed 3-2 with three minutes remaining in the second quarter, but went on an impressive four-goal run to build a 6-4 lead. However, the Lancers refused to back down and tied the game at six to head into halftime.

Both teams continued the back-and-forth through the second half: three lead changes and three ties in the third quarter left the Tigers in a nine-all deadlock heading into the final half.

With less than six minutes remaining in the game, the Lancers scored yet again to take an ominous 10-9 edge late in the contest. However, Princeton remained did not flinch under pressure. Just under thirty seconds after Cal Baptist took the lead, freshman utility Lindsey Kelleher erased it by scoring her first goal in collegiate competition. The underclassmen continued to demonstrate their explosiveness, with freshman attack Eliza Britt tallying her second goal of the contest to pull the Tigers ahead with four minutes remaining. Senior utility Pippa Temple iced the match with a final goal that secured the comeback: Tigers 12, Lancers 10.

The win demonstrated not only the Tigers’ resolve, but also the tremendous potential of their freshman class, which currently appears more than capable of filling the shoes left by leading scorers Ashley Hatcher '15 and Jessica Holechek '15.

After the comeback against Cal Baptist, the Tigers rode their growing wave of momentum. Against Villanova (2-1, 0-0 MAAC), Princeton built a quick lead in the opening minutes, with sophomore utility Haley Wan and Britt scoring rapid goals to give the home team a 2-0 edge after the first quarter. From there, the Tigers simply opened up, piling four more unanswered goals to end the half 6-0. Upon returning from the intermission, the team ran all over the Wildcats, adding six more scores in the third quarter and outscoring Villanova 10-5 overall in the second half to walk away with a convincing 16-5 win. Coming off of a clutch performance against Cal Baptist, Kelleher again demonstrated her capabilities by contributing a team-leading three goals during this dominant run.

Against the Cal Lutheran Regals (0-3), Princeton marched on through the weekend with a display of cohesion and power. The Tigers again jumped out to a quick advantage, with four scores from four different players resulting in a 4-1 advantage at the conclusion of the first quarter. The Regals responded with three goals of their own in the second period, but simply could not keep pace with Princeton, which found the back of the net six times and held a commanding 10-4 lead going into half.

The team picked up right where they left off to open the third quarter, blanking Cal Lutheran and adding five more goals to send the game firmly out of reach. The Regals went down fighting, outscoring Princeton 2-1 in the final period, but remained 10 goals behind at the conclusion. Britt, Temple, Wan, junior center defender Morgan Hallock, sophomore 2-meter Chelsea Johnson and sophomore utility Emily Smith each tallied two goals in the masterful 16-6 victory.

In their final match of the tournament, Princeton took on the Iona Gaels this Sunday afternoon. No clear winner was apparent at the start of the game; the two teams remained deadlocked at 4-4 at the end of the first quarter. However, Smith single-highhandedly outscored the Gaels in the second quarter, contributing two out of Princeton’s three goals to put the Tigers up ahead at half, 7-5.

The final periods of the tournament again proved testament to Princeton’s teamwork and the multitude of its threats. Although Wan led the team in scoring with a career-high four goals, Hallock and Smith each accounted for three goals apiece, and Kelleher also scored twice over the course of the match. The Tigers scored five times and built a six-point lead over the third quarter, though Iona refused to go away and responded with three goals to make the score 12-8 heading into the fourth. However, Princeton opened the final period of competition with back-to-back scores, icing this final match and going undefeated through its first tournament.

The 4-0 Tigers (0-0 MAAC) will look to continue their successes in the pool when they head to the Bucknell Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 27.