PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Joan Coloma (Sr., Barcelona, Spain/Jesuites Casp) waited until the league title game to put on a Most Valuable Player performance as he scored three times to power No. 8-ranked/defending Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Champion Princeton University to a 13-8 defeat of No. 18 St. Francis College Brooklyn in the 2022 NWPC Championship title game held at Brown University’s Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
Princeton (26-5, 10-0 NWPC) punches the program’s ticket to the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship via the NWPC’s automatic bid. The official bracket and complete field will be announced at Midnight on Monday, November 21 at NCAA.com.
A rematch of the 2021 championship game which Princeton claimed versus St. Francis Brooklyn (21-10 6-4 NWPC) at home in the Garden State by a 9-6 score, the league title marks the eighth in Princeton men’s water polo history (1992 vs. Slippery Rock University; 2004 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn; 2009 vs. the 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 Tigers built an early lead in the title tilt and never looked back as Princeton outscored the Terriers 3-0 in the first quarter, 3-1 in the second quarter and 5-4 in the fourth quarter with the New York squad claiming a 3-2 scoring advantage in the third quarter.
Ryan Neapole (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) drew first blood for Princeton as he converted a man-up chance at the 6:28 mark of the first quarter to stake his team to a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way. 2022 NWPC Player of the Year Roko Pozaric (So., Zagreb, Croatia/Gimnazija Titusa Brezovackog) and Yurian Quinones (Sr., Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) delivered additional strikes at 2:50 and 32 seconds, respectively, as Princeton raced out to a 3-0 lead by the conclusion of the opening frame.
The margin ballooned to 4-0 with 5:35 remaining in the second quarter as Neapole buried a natural goal. St. Francis Brooklyn attempted to ignite a comeback as Aleksa Sisakovic (Sr., Belgrade, Serbia/X Beogradska Gimnazija “Mihailo Pupin”) fired in a man-up opportunity at 4:20 to put the Terriers on the board at 4-1. However, Vladan Mitrovic (So., Novi Sad, Serbia/Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj) and Coloma broke the curtain on the first half by lining in shots at 4:02 and one second, respectively, to allow Princeton to carry a commanding 6-1 lead into halftime.
Paul Armingol (Jr., Aix en Provence, France/Lycee Emile Zola) started to put St. Francis Brooklyn back into the game by delivering man-up (6:07) and even-strength (5:18) goals to shrink Princeton’s lead to 6-3 early in the third quarter.
Coloma gave Princeton back a four-goal spread (7-3) with 3:08 on the clock, but Ioannis Egnatiadis (Fr., Athens, Greece/2nd Lyceum of Vrilssia) converted a penalty shot at 1:05 to once again place the Terriers within striking distance at 7-4.
Princeton put the game away in the final minute of the third quarter and the opening 1:30 of the fourth quarter via a 3-0 run.
George Caras (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) started and concluded the scoring spree by connecting on shots with 44 ticks left on the third quarter clock and 6:42 remaining in the fourth quarter to sandwich a power-play marker by Coloma at the 7:21 mark of the fourth quarter.
Trailing 10-4 with under seven minutes remaining in the game, St. Francis Brooklyn once again attempted to put together a run as Sisakovic (5:45) and Egnatiadis (4:49) inched the Terriers back to within four (10-6) courtesy back-to-back heaves.
However, Princeton exploited a pair of SFC penalties and a man-up chance to put the contest out of reach.
Keller Maloney (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) and Quinones swished five-meter penalty shots at 3:43 and 2:56 prior to Gavin Molloy (So., Old Greenwic, Conn./Brunswick School) spinning in a man-up bid at 2:14 to expand Princeton’s lead to 13-6 with approximately two minutes left in regulation.
St. Francis Brooklyn refused to go down without a fight as William Simpson (Sr., Wellington, New Zealand/Saint Katherine College) and Leonidas Athansoulias (Jr., Hydra, Greece/Malmo Borgarskola) put away opportunities with 1:06 and 47 seconds left, respectively, to establish the 13-8 final score.
Princeton – which now shares the record for most NWPC Championships at three (2017, 2021, 2022) with Harvard (2016, 2018, 2019) as the duo have combined for all six crowns due to 2020 NWPC season being lost to the COVID-19 pandemic – received a hat-trick from Coloma to accompany pairs by Caras, Neapole and Quinones. Mitrovic, Pozaric, Maloney and Molloy tacked on solo markers in support of a 10 save effort by goalkeeper Antonio Knez (Sr., Dubrovnik, Croatia/Gimnazia Dubrovnik).
The 2005 (vs. Navy), 2010 (vs. Navy), 2012 (vs. Bucknell) and 2013 (vs. Princeton) Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion with runner-up finishes in 1999 (vs. the University of Massachusetts), 2000 (vs. Navy), 2004 (vs. Princeton) and 2007 (vs. Navy) prior to last year’s loss in the NWPC Championship title game, St. Francis Brooklyn received pairs of tallies from Egnatiadis, Armingol and Sisakovic in the loss. Simpson and Athanasoulias both notched single goals.
Djordje Stoiljkovic (Nis, Serbia/First Grammar School Stevan Sremac) turned away five Princeton scoring tries in taking the loss guarding the iron.
Following the championship game, the All-Tournament Team was announced:
| 2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship | |
| All-Tournament Team | |
| Most Valuable Player: | Joan Coloma (Princeton University) |
| Rookie of the Tournament: | Ilias Stothart (Brown University) |
| Coach of the Tournament: | Ilija Duretic (St. Francis College Brooklyn) |
| First Team | |
| Djordje Stoiljkovic (Goalie) | St. Francis College Brooklyn |
| Adonis Vlassis | St. Francis College Brooklyn |
| Aleksa Sisakovic | St. Francis College Brooklyn |
| Ryan Neapole | Princeton University |
| Joan Coloma | Princeton University |
| Alex Tsotadze | Harvard University |
| Ilias Stothart | Brown University |
| Second Team | |
| Kyle Laufenberg (Goalie) | Iona University |
| Kole Newman (Goalie) | Brown University |
| Antonio Knez (Goalie) | Princeton University |
| Vladan Mitrovic | Princeton University |
| Baptiste Oliveri | St. Francis College Brooklyn |
| James Rozolis-Hill | Harvard University |
| Miller Geschke | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Christian Jacobsen | Connecticut College |
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 18 St. Francis College Brooklyn |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | – | 8 |
| No. 8 Princeton University | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | – | 13 |
| Princeton Goals: | Joan Coloma (3); George Caras (2); Yurian Quinones (2); Ryan Neapole (2); Keller Maloney; Gavin Molloy; Roko Pozaric; Vladan Mitrovic | |||||
| SFC Goals: | Paul Armingol (2); Ionnis Egnatiadis (2); Aleksa Sisakovic (2); Leonidas Athanasoulias; William Simpson; | |||||
| Princeton Assists: | Yurian Quinones; Roko Pozaric | |||||
| SFC Assists: | Paolo Morliere (2); Jovan Parojcic; Aleksa Sisakovic | |||||
| Saves: | Princeton – Antonio Knez (10) ; SFC – Djordje Stoiljkovic (5) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Princeton – 10 ; SFC – 12 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Princeton – 5-for-12 ; SFC – 3-for-10 | |||||
| Sprints: | Princeton – 4-for-4 ; SFC – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Alex Stankevitch, Val Vasilchikov | |||||
