No. 6 men’s water polo falls to No. 5 Fordham, stays undefeated in NWPC play

On the road for a three-game matchup, No. 6 men’s water polo (16–2 overall, 5–0 Northeast Water Polo Conference) saw its six-game winning streak snapped in a 16–14 loss to No. 5 Fordham (15–1 overall, 6–0 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference). The Tigers recovered to beat Iona (6–14 overall, 1–4) 14–7 and Long Island University (6–10 overall, 1–4) 15–12 in conference play later that day. 

Junior attacker Ádám Peocz led Princeton with five goals against Fordham, and first-year utility Oliver Marcin matched that total against LIU. First-year utility Tibi Cojocariu scored a team-high eight goals across the three games, while senior goalkeeper Kristóf Kovács made 32 saves throughout the day. 

Late rally falls short against Fordham

Both Princeton and Fordham entered this game strong, with the Tigers having a 6-game streak and the Rams having three. The matchup stayed close from the start, with the first quarter ending with a score by sophomore attacker Taylor Bell to tie the game 3–3.

The Rams started to pull ahead at the start of the second, leading 8–5. Shortly after, Princeton answered with two straight goals, before Fordham scored at the halftime buzzer to take a 9–7 lead into the break. 

Kovács kept the Tigers within reach in the third quarter, as he had back-to-back saves and set up a goal that cut Fordham’s lead to 10–9. Ultimately, Princeton drew level at 11–11 heading into the fourth.

Fordham then took control once more, scoring four straight goals to go up 15–11. With one final push, Princeton then responded with three unanswered goals to pull within 15–14 with less than 30 seconds left. However, the Rams scored again to restore a two-goal cushion. Although Princeton called a timeout with 16 seconds remaining, the Tigers could not find the net again. 

Princeton powers past Iona 

Coming off a loss, Princeton was hungry to recover with a win to start off divisional play in the weekend.

“My motivation was to keep up the effort and intensity after our first game against Fordham,” Cojocariu wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “I wanted us to finish strong and win our games against Iona and LIU by a good margin, since these results are important for our NWPC campaign.” 

Cojocariu wasted little time against Iona, scoring 41 seconds into the game on his way to a team-high four goals. He struck again midway through the first quarter off a feed from senior utility Finn LeSieur. 

Junior attacker Enrique Nuño then converted a penalty shot, and junior utility Gavin Appeldorn added another goal on an assist from Bell before the end of the period.

Continuing to run hot, Cojocariu scored his third goal in the second quarter, and Nuño found the net again to give Princeton more breathing room before halftime.

Early on in the third, Cojocariu completed his four-goal game on an assist from Peocz.

“I want to give credit to my teammates for doing a great job of finding the right passes for me,” Cojocariu told the ‘Prince.’ “As a center forward, half the work is done by my teammates, and I really appreciate their effort and patience in finding good entry passes.”

The Tigers put the game away in the fourth quarter, scoring five goals in under five minutes. Senior attacker William Swart scored twice in the opening 92 seconds of the period, setting up the Tigers to close out the game on a 14–7 win. 

Tigers hold off LIU to close the day 

Marcin did most of the damage against LIU, scoring five goals. The Tigers scored the last four goals of the first quarter to turn a 3–2 deficit into a 6–3 lead. 

LIU struck first in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 6–4. Princeton then answered with three straight goals: Nuño scored on a feed from junior attacker Tas Palcza, and Palcza found the net 51 seconds later. The Tigers then converted a penalty shot to go up 9–4. LIU scored late in the quarter, but Princeton had the last word, scoring with four seconds left to take a 10–5 lead at the end of the half. 

The third quarter was the game’s highest-scoring, with both teams combining for 11 goals.

The Tigers and Sharks traded scores early, before LIU scored twice in quick succession to pull within 12–8.

Princeton answered with three of the next four goals, the last giving the Tigers a 15–9 lead with 1 minute and 47 seconds left. LIU closed the quarter with two more goals to make it 15–11. 

The Sharks scored the next three goals, the last with 6:31 left to play. Princeton’s defense held sturdy from there, and neither team scored over the final minutes. 

“I’m really happy that we finished the day with two wins against conference opponents,” Cojocariu wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “I also want to congratulate my teammates once again for their effort and resilience throughout a demanding three-game day.” 

The Tigers will head to the West Coast next weekend, starting with a Tiger-on-Tiger matchup against University of the Pacific (5–6 overall, 1–1 West Coast Conference) on Sunday, Oct. 18.

Ethan Cole is a Sports Contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Please send any corrections to sports[at]dailyprincetonian.com.