Hosting their first Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) home games of the season, the No. 9 men’s water polo team (13–5 overall, 4–1 NWPC) played three matches at Denunzio Pool over the weekend. On Saturday morning, the Tigers defeated the No. 18 Brown Bears (7–4 overall, 2–1 NWPC) 14–8 before sinking the MIT Engineers (3–9 overall, 0–3 NWPC) 20–5. On Sunday morning, the Tigers were narrowly beaten in a double-overtime thriller against their NWPC rivals, the Harvard Crimson (10–2 overall, 3–0 NWPC), 17–16.
Last year, the Tigers lost in similar fashion in Boston to the Crimson in sudden death overtime, 14–13. However, they ultimately got the better of the Crimson in the NWPC Championship game to qualify for the NCAA tournament. The matchup on Sunday was a duel between the two conference rivals who have each won every conference title since 2015. It was also an entertaining match featuring senior utility Roko Pozaric, a 2023 Cutino Award finalist, against Harvard utility James Rozolis Hill, who has an astonishing 281 career goals in two and a half seasons with the Crimson.
Tigers start slow, then bring the heat against Brown
The first quarter against Brown opened up with a battle of the keepers. An early five meter penalty for the Tigers was saved by Brown, before sophomore goalkeeper Kristóf Kovács dove and denied the Bears’ penalty at the other end.
Kovàcs, coming off his third straight NWPC Defensive Player of the Week honors, showed why he has received national recognition with various key saves and interceptions throughout the weekend.
“Kristóf is easily the best goalie in the country,” senior attacker Aidan Bruno told The Daily Princetonian. “He’s an incredible force in the water, and the energy he brings is fantastic … he’s certainly been someone we can rely on on defense,” he added.
After a defensive showcase from both teams in the first quarter, the Tigers’ offensive prowess showed up in the second. Two quick goals from senior attacker Gavin Molloy and Pozaric forced a Brown timeout, before junior utility JP Ohl gave the Tigers a three-goal lead. Despite a Brown goal from a powerful long-distance shot, Kovács displayed his brilliant defensive instincts as he intercepted two long passes twice by coming off his line, a trend he would continue throughout the day.
The Tigers dove right into the third quarter with intensity, forcing a Brown exclusion which Pozaric capitalized on with his second goal. Although Brown thought they were back in the game with an easy finish to cut their deficit back to three, it was all Tiger pressure from there on.
Princeton 10, Brown 3 | 7:34 Q4
— Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo) October 5, 2024
A Roko Pozaric hat trick? All in a day's work🤝
💻https://t.co/QCxiefNuXs pic.twitter.com/XPDAPAgcnt
The Tigers entered the fourth and final quarter with a 9–3 lead. Pozaric soon after completed his hat-trick and became the joint third all-time top scorer in Princeton men’s water polo history. The Tigers cruised to victory after a high scoring fourth quarter.
Full-team display as the Tigers sink MIT
It was not till the second quarter that the Tigers turned up the intensity against the Engineers. Pozaric struck his first of this match — becoming the sole third all-time top scorer in program history — before the Tigers began to pour it on.
A true team effort saw the Tigers take a 10–2 lead into the half and 16–4 lead into the fourth. In the final period, the Tigers showcased their depth and young talent with goals from some unlikely contributors. The Princeton bench erupted three times in a row when first-year utility Teddy Rountree-Shtulman, Bruno, and junior attacker Bhavan Aulahk each scored their first career goals.
“My family was all here for Cottage parents’ weekend, and I got to score my first goal in front of them … it was a fantastic feeling, and the team was all super pumped for me,” Bruno, a walk-on from Coral Gables, Fla., shared with the ‘Prince.’
Princeton 18, MIT 4 | 5:49 Q4
— Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo) October 5, 2024
Another career first, this time for Aidan Bruno🥳
💻https://t.co/OTHIRU39DY pic.twitter.com/wzzLe1Ctgi
Senior attacker Will Garlinghouse rotated into the goalkeeping position for the last few plays, making two saves, showing just how versatile this Tigers squad is. Senior attacker Daniel Rodriguez ended the night with his first career home goal.
Grueling 33-goal thriller ends in narrow defeat against a relentless Harvard
Hoping to carry their momentum from the two wins on Saturday, the Tigers started their Sunday matchup against the Harvard Crimson with even more intensity, jumping out to a 3–0 lead. The Crimson finally broke through Princeton’s low block with two goals near the end of the first quarter.
Despite an early power-play goal from junior utility Luke Johnston to restore a three-goal lead, Harvard kicked off the second quarter with a high-line press that resulted in three successive goals to tie the game 5–5, silencing the crowd.
“At times our offense looked great, and we seemed to be on the same page,” Head Coach Dustin Litvak told the ‘Prince.’ “At other times, we were out of balance in getting in each other’s way, which led to way too many turnovers.”
Indeed, the rest of the game would be nonstop back and forth between the two sides, trading opportunities at each end. Following key field blocks by senior defender Vladan Mitrovic and Ohl, senior center George Caras’s buzzer beater and first-year utility Gavin Appeldorn’s finish gave Princeton back the lead.
Harvard thought they tied again when they were awarded a last-minute penalty, but Kovács made a signature key penalty save to deny them in the dying seconds of the quarter, leading to a half-time score of 7–6.
The third quarter was an intense back-and-forth between the two rivals. Harvard first tied after continuous round-pool ball movement and then finished a one-on-one off a counterattack to give them their first lead in the match, 8–7. Appeldorn fired home a penalty to draw the game, but Harvard continued pressing high to bring up the adrenaline.
The crowd shook when a beam into the Tigers’ crossbar was followed by Harvard’s center rebounding it from short distance, only to be somehow denied by Kovács. A miscommunication resulted in Harvard scoring off a deflection, but Molloy got one back to tie the score at the end of the third quarter, 9–9.
Princeton 9, Harvard 9 | 1:08 Q3
— Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo) October 6, 2024
Gavin Molloy bringing the BOOM💥
💻https://t.co/DUg6gIajB7 pic.twitter.com/IGChwTFnWq
The Tigers led 12–11 as time was expiring in the contest. Harvard opted to go seven-on-six and converted, with Harvard attacker Dean Strauser converting in the final three seconds. At the end of regular time, the score was tied at 12–12.
Princeton 14, Harvard 13 | 0:17 OT1
— Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo) October 6, 2024
George. Clutch. Caras‼️
💻https://t.co/DUg6gIajB7 pic.twitter.com/3TTWZRfroX
Harvard quickly equalized from distance in the second overtime period, but Princeton started to finally look like they were regaining their early control when some calm and collective ball movement allowed first-year attacker Nathan Banos to come in from the right and smash it home.
“Same as the rest of the game. Try to get back to what was working for us during the moments we seemed to be in control of the game,” Coach Litvak explained when asked about the team’s mentality heading into overtime.
Indeed, the Tigers continued moving the ball around as the clock dwindled down to two minutes. Princeton thought they had won when Pozeric completed yet another hat-trick for a 16–14 lead, but Harvard just grew more relentless. Their goalkeeper Tanner Furtak risked it all as he drove all the way up to the Tigers’ half, leading Harvard in two fast last-minute plays where Harvard somehow found the back of the net. This tied the score at the end of regular overtime at 16 apiece.
With sudden-death now on the line, Pozaric battled to win the sprint and give Princeton possession. But a key Furtak block overturned the ball, resulting in Harvard’s winning goal and completing an impressive comeback for the Crimson, leading to the Tigers’ first NWPC defeat of the season.
After the match, Coach Litvak shared some key aspects the Tigers need to work on, citing turnovers, structuring, and spacing as key things to improve for the remainder of the season.
“We are striving for consistency,” he shared. “We are not there yet, but we will continue to focus on our habits and approach to be more consistent in everything we do.”
Despite an extremely frustrating loss, the Tigers showcased a lot of their strengths this weekend and will continue to fight for not just a fourth straight NWPC title, but a shot at performing at the national stage. Pozaric continues to break records and is just seven goals away from the all-time high scoring record set by John Stover ’05, 19 years ago.
Meanwhile, a whopping 17 different players scored in the three games this weekend. The defense also displayed very solid play as they held Brown and MIT to single digits on Saturday, while Kovács set a new single career game high of five steals with his impressive instincts, proving himself a key player and defensive leader.
The Tigers travel to Los Angeles next weekend where they face off against the No. 1 UCLA Bruins (13–1 overall, 0–1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation West) and Westcliff Warriors (6–11 overall). The UCLA game will be a rematch of the MPSF Invitational in September, where Princeton narrowly missed out on a historic upset, as they also lost 16–17 in overtime.
Head Sports editor Diego Uribe contributed reporting.
Bryant Figueroa is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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