No. 8 Princeton University’s West Temkin Stops 12 to Mount Brown University Bears, 12-7, & Make 2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship Title Game

Brown University-vs.-No. 8 Princeton University Scoresheet (2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship – Game #5)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Goalie West Temkin (Fr., Alamo, Calif./Campolindo) of No. 8-ranked/defending league champion Princeton University stopped 12 shots to claim Player of the Game recognition for powering the Tigers past the host Bears of Brown University in the semifinals of the 2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.

Princeton (25-5, 10-0 NWPC) – which competed in its first game of the championship after having a first round bye thanks to claiming the NWPC regular season title – claims its third win of the year over Brown following 14-8 and 9-8 victories during the regular season. 

The Tigers will return to the pool at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 20, against the winner of a semifinal clash pitting No. 15 Harvard University and No. 18 St. Francis College Brooklyn.  Princeton went undefeated against both programs during the 2022 regular season as the Tigers cut down the Crimson (9-6 W, 10-7 W) and the Terriers (11-9 W, 11-8 W).

The game marks the 15th league championship title game in Princeton program history as the team holds seven previous league championships (1992 vs. Slippery Rock University; 2004 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn; 2009 vs. United States Naval Academy; 2011 vs. Navy; 2015 vs. Johns Hopkins University; 2018 vs. Harvard; 2021 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn) with seven runner-up marks by placing second in 2003 (vs. Navy), 2006 (vs. Navy), 2008 (vs. Navy), 2013 (vs. St. Francis Brooklyn), 2014 (vs. Brown), 2017 (vs. Harvard) and 2019 (vs. Harvard).

The 2017, 2019 and 2022 NWPC Championship – as the previous crowns all came in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) prior to the split of the conference into the NWPC and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) – Princeton – which posted the programs 12th 20-win season this year as the Tigers previously racked up 20 or more wins in 1999 (22-3), 2000 (24-10), 2002 (20-9), 2003 (23-4), 2004 (25-6), 2005 (21-10), 2011 (23-10), 2013 (22-6), 2014 (23-4), 2015 (22-5) and 2017 (22-6) since becoming a varsity sport in 1996 – will aim to overcome an odd piece of history in the 2022 title tilt.  Among the Tigers’ bevy of 20-victory seasons, only three have concluded with championship plaques (2004, 2011, 2015).

Facing the Bears (16-16, 4-6 NWPC) with another crack at a crown and a berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship via the league’s automatic berth into the field on the line – the Tigers roared out to a 3-0 lead in the opening frame.

Vladan Mitrovic (So., Novi Sad, Serbia/Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj), Pierce Maloney (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) and Isaac Rotenberg (So., Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) accounted for the run with strikes at 3:53 (man-up), 3:08 and 2:05, respectively, to stake Princeton to a lead it failed to relinquish the rest of the way.

Matt Simko (Sr, Coral Gables, Fla./Ransom Everglades School) put Brown on the board with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter, but a five-meter penalty shot by Keller Maloney (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) at 2:50 returned the lead to three at 4-1.  The Bears managed to chip one marker off their deficit prior to the halftime horn as Ilias Stothart (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) lined in a shot at 2:33 to make it a 4-2 game entering intermission.

Brown appeared primed to complete a comeback in the dawning moments of the third quarter as Stothart converted a six-on-five opportunity at 7:22 to pull the Bears within one at 4-3.  However, the momentum was snuffed out by Keller Maloney who lobbed a shot into the twine at 5:49 to cushion Princeton’s margin to 5-3.

The Bears once again threatened at 5:16 as Cole Atwell (Sr., San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) sniped a man-up shot into the cage to move Brown within 5-4 in an effort to catch the Tigers by the tail.  But Princeton responded by bearing its claws as Luke Johnston (Fr., Menlo Park, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep), Roko Pozaric (So., Zagreb, Croatia/Gimnazija Titusa Brezovackog), Pierce Maloney and Gavin Molloy (So., Old Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick School) put away shots at 3:39, 2:53, 41 seconds and one second, respectively, to blow the contest open at 9-4.

Mitrovic capped off Princeton’s 5-0 outburst by stuffing in his team’s 10 strike at 7:41 to provide the Tigers a comfortable 10-4 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Brown refused to go down easy as Atwell scored a natural tally at 7:22 and a man-up chance at 2:09 to sandwich a strike by Stothart (5:06) to help Brown closed to within 10-7 with approximately two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Similar to Brown’s other runs in the contest, Princeton responded by landing a pair of shots as Pozaric (1:26) and Molloy (39 seconds) delivered the knockout blows to establish the 12-7 final score.

For Princeton, Pierce and Keller Maloney joined Pozaric, Molloy and Mitrovic in posting pairs.  Rotenberg and Johnston tacked on solo markers in support of Temkin’s 12 save effort in cage.

Brown received hat-tricks from Atwell and Stothart along with a single goal from the hand of Simko.  Kole Newman (Fr., Santa Monica, Calif./Brentwood School) went the distance between the pipes for the Bears with eight saves.

The loss drops Brown into the Third Place game at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 20, against the fallen from the St. Francis Brooklyn-vs.-Brown game.  A five-time CWPA Champion with four titles (1981, 1983, 1984, 1985) and six (1978, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990) runner-up marks under league Hall of Fame coach Ed Reed prior to current coach Felix Mercado leading the team to the 2014 crown, the Bears have previously placed Second (2016), Third (2017, 2019, 2021) and Fourth (2018) at the NWPC Championship.