Men’s water polo looks to challenge national powerhouses in weekend Mountain Pacific Invitational

Water polo has traditionally been an athletic mainstay of schools in California. Out of this year’s top ten nationally-ranked schools, nine are located in California.

No. 9-ranked Princeton, however, is ready to dispel the notion that only schools on the West Coast can succeed in water polo. The Tigers will head over to the Mountain West Invitational at Berkeley this weekend in a tournament featuring powerhouses such as UCLA, Cal, Stanford, and Pacific. Princeton will open the tournament with a match against No. 6-ranked UC Santa Barbara on Friday, a formidable foe with a strong 5-1 record. The Gauchos’ sole loss comes against No. 2-ranked Southern California, whom they fell to 18-3.

However, it would be foolish to even begin counting out Princeton. The Tigers, having risen from 11thplace to ninth after strong showings in two opening invitational rounds, swept four schools in their opening meet, the Navy Invitational, by decisive margins, averaging over twenty points per game. Princeton continued to show it was worthy of its top ten ranking at the Princeton Invitational hosted at Denunzio one week later, going 2-2. Although the Tigers dropped matches against top-ranked UCLA and third-ranked Cal in spite of excellent goalkeeping from junior goalie Vojislav Mitrovic and a spirited offense (including a hat trick from Jovan Jeremic and Matt Payne against Cal and UCLA, respectively), they also edged out Wagner 14-10, defeated a top-20 Santa Clara team 13-8, and then trounced a ranked Air Force squad 13-3.

Any loss in experience from Princeton’s three graduating seniors has been more than compensated for by the impressive play of both freshman and returning players. In fact, as junior Jordan Colina puts it, “Some pivotal contributors this year are definitely going to be freshmen and sophomores. Although we are a young team, the younger members have definitely been able to step up and really contribute each practice and game.”

Princeton benefits greatly from its talent and versatility, both offensively and defensively. Sophomore Michael Swart, who leads the team in steals, comments on the team, “I think that our team’s strength is our ability to play on both sides of the pool. We have the potential to shut teams down on defense while picking apart their defense when we are on the offensive end of the pool.”

All-American Mitrovic was named the Northeast Water Polo Conference Defensive Player of the Week after a stellar performance in the Princeton Invitational, where he recorded three games with more than ten saves, including 12 against Santa Clara, 13 against a high-powered Cal offense, and a stunning 18 saves against Air Force, which played a huge role in limiting the Falcons to only three goals. On the offense, the Tigers show remarkable balance and well-roundedness, with a variety of players capable of becoming real scoring threats. Freshman Sean Duncan who leads the team with 18 goals, for which he was recognized as Conference Rookie of the week.

While the sixth-ranked Gauchos are definitely a team to be respected and honored, the Tigers have performed well enough for any observer to have faith in their ability to challenge UC Santa Barbara for the win. Princeton’s success will depend on both the ability of the offense to remain versatile and depend on its younger members and the goalkeeping prowess of Mitrovic—as Swart puts it aptly, “Our All-American goalie Vojislav Mitrovic is a major key to our success. When he plays well, we are hard to beat.” Should the Tigers prevail, they will next play the winner of a Cal-Whittier matchup.