Over fall break, the No. 7 ranked Tigers (15–7 overall, 4–1 Northeast Water Polo Conference) traveled across the country for a road trip against several California powerhouses.
Princeton has split the trip thus far, going 2–2 with wins against No. 5 Pepperdine and unranked Westcliff and close losses to No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 University of Southern California (USC). The challenge of playing these high-caliber teams is not something the Tigers shy away from.
“We try to maintain a level at practice every day that prepares us to play teams like them,” sophomore goalkeeper Kristóf Kovács wrote to the Daily Princetonian. “It is great to get challenged and test the best teams in the country.”
Comeback against No.2 UCLA falls short
Playing the No.2 ranked Bruins for the second time this season, the Tigers looked to avenge a 17–16 sudden death overtime loss.
In the first quarter, both teams played lockdown defense, with the first goal not coming until after the five-minute mark. However, with just over four minutes to go, UCLA scored their second of two back-to-back goals to put them up 2–0.
However, Kovács dominated in the goal, swallowing up a pair of six-on-five opportunities by UCLA.
With 2:04 left to play in the first quarter, sophomore utility Finn LeSieur scored a bar-down goal with two seconds left on the shot clock to bring the Tigers within 1. However, at the end of the quarter, UCLA scored on a self-made seven-on-six power play to take a 3–1 lead. Princeton went just 1/6 on shots, struggling to get their offense going.
At the start of the second quarter, senior utility Roko Pozaric drew a five-meter penalty, granting him a penalty shot. Pozaric put it away easily with a bounce shot to the top left corner, making the score 3–2. However, UCLA’s Aaron Voggenthaler responded almost immediately with a goal of his own, bringing the Bruins’ lead back up to two.
With just under five minutes to play, Princeton failed to convert on a power play, but following a quick ordinary foul, first-year attacker Ádám Peocz found the back of the net to make the score 5–3. UCLA scored twice more to go up four with three minutes remaining in the first half.
First-year utility Gavin Appeldorn tried to stop the bleeding with a heater from way outside, but after his goal, which brought the score to 7–4, the Bruins scored again despite a couple of great blocks from Kovács.
After one half of play, UCLA went 8/18 on shots compared to Princeton, who was 5/11. The key for the Bruins was volume, as Princeton couldn’t match their shots on goal and were forced to play defense for the majority of the half.
The Bruins started the third quarter off strong, scoring two goals to go up five on the Tigers. However, Princeton wasn’t ready to be put away just yet. With 3:28 to go in the quarter, first-year attacker Enrique Nuño converted the Tigers’ second penalty shot of the game with a fastball that just escaped the fingertips of UCLA’s goalie, making the score 10–6.
From there, senior utility Mason Killion and Pozaric scored back-to-back goals to cut the UCLA lead down to just two. On the other side of the ball, Kovács and the Princeton defense held strong, preventing the Bruins from putting up any more points, despite some great opportunities.
In the fourth, both teams struggled to get anything going on offense. UCLA had several missed chances, with shots flying off target. Kovács made several blocks as well, causing the Bruins’ high-powered offense to grind to a standstill. Nevertheless, Princeton had a hard time getting their offense going, ultimately leading to a 10–8 loss against the No.2 team in the country.
Later that day, the Tigers played unranked Westcliff, coming out on top 19–10. Princeton started the match with a 7–0 lead and dominated Westcliff on both sides of the ball. Pozaric and first-year attacker Nathan Banos each had a hat trick while 11 different Tigers found the back of the net.
Pozaric makes history
In a tough matchup against the No. 5 ranked Pepperdine Waves, Princeton was able to come away with a 12–11 win. Despite the close score, Princeton maintained a lead for nearly the entire game.
The first goal of the game wasn’t scored until 4:42 left in first, off of a neat spin move by senior defender Vladan Mitrovic. From there, Pepperdine’s Adam Csapo found the back of the net to even it up.
However, it wasn’t long before the Tigers came roaring back, with both LeSieur and Killion adding to Princeton’s total. To end out the first, the Waves scored once again to make it a 3–2 game.
At the start of the second quarter, Pozaric made his way into the scoring column with a goal on a penalty shot. With 7:17 left, Kosács had a phenomenal block on a penalty shot, preventing Pepperdine from coming back in the game.
The Tigers continued to maintain their lead throughout the second with goals from Appeldorn and another from Pozaric. With his second score of the day coming off a feed from first-year attacker Tas Palcza, Pozaric tied the all-time program goals record with 254 goals. At the end of the first half, Princeton led Pepperdine 9–6 thanks to a buzzer beater from Banos.
Appeldorn opened up the second half strong, giving Princeton a 10–6 lead after an early goal. After the Tigers drew a 5 meter penalty, Pozaric was given the green light on the penalty shot. The senior from Zagreb, Croatia skipped the ball top right of the cage, breaking Princeton’s all-time goals record with his 255th score.
“At the moment I didn’t have any particular reaction, because we were still playing a close game and our focus was on winning the game,” Pozaric told ‘the Prince’. “After the game, my teammates congratulated me on the record, and it felt great.”
From there, the Tiger’s maintained their lead and never let it go, holding off the Waves to secure the 12–11 victory.
Princeton starts hot, fades against No. 3 USC
The fourth game of the trip came against the No. 3 ranked USC Trojans. The last time the Tigers played the Trojans was in 2022, when the Trojans beat the Tigers 11–8 in the NCAA quarterfinals.
In the first half of the matchup against the Trojans, all attention was focused on the goalkeepers. Kovács and USC’s Bernardo Herzer both made a variety of spectacular saves, and after the first quarter, the score was 2–1 in favor of the Trojans.
In the second frame, the game stayed close. USC played very tight defense throughout, giving the Tigers a hard time working the ball inside to the post. Early in the second quarter, the Trojans and Tigers swapped a pair of goals, with USC’s Carson Kranz putting one past Kovács from the corner, but immediately after, junior utility Logan McCarroll scored for Princeton, keeping the game within one.
For the rest of the second quarter, the score stayed low, with both goalies coming up big to prevent either side from pulling away. However, Princeton struggled scoring off of exclusions, despite several opportunities. Finally, with just 20 seconds left in the half, Pozaric capitalized off an exclusion, finding the back of the net to equalize the game at 3–3 to end the half.
After two quarters of play, the story to follow was the incredible goalie play. Kovács had an astounding save percentage of 76.9 percent, coming from 10 first-half saves against the Trojans.
“After the first few blocks, it got easier,” Kovács stated. “It just made me feel like okay, I am here, I got this, so I just kept playing and having fun.”
Despite the hard fought battle in the first half, USC slowly began to pull away in the second half. Princeton started off strong with a goal from Appeldorn to put the Tigers up one.
With just over seven minutes to go in the third quarter, USC moved the ball up the pool quickly, giving them an easy shot to tie it up. With 3:50 left, the Tigers used a series of quick passes to work the ball inside, leading to a goal from junior Luke Johnston to tie the game at five a piece. Unfortunately for Princeton, the third quarter ended with USC up, 7–5.
In the fourth quarter, USC began to take over, and with 4:18 left in the game, the Trojans were up 10–5. Princeton struggled in the fourth to find their rhythm, and several possessions ended with shot clock violations or bad shots. Despite 16 saves from Kovács, the firepower from USC was too much to handle, and the Tigers fell with a final score of 10–7.
“A lot of the games in water polo are decided by men-up offense and men-down defense, and that is where USC was better than us,” Pozaric explained after the game. “We had our opportunities but were not taking them as we should have.”
The Tigers look to find more success for the rest of the trip, as they play No. 4 University of the Pacific and No. 9 UC Berkeley on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Doug Schwartz is a Sports contributor and a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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