PRINCETON, N.J. — The host/No. 11-ranked Princeton University Tigers secured the No. 1 seed in the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship set for Friday-Sunday, November 19-21, at home in DeNunzio Pool by falling to St. Francis College Brooklyn, 9-7, prior to upending Iona College, 20-10.
In the morning versus St. Francis, the Terriers ripped off five straight goals to begin the game and held the Tigers scoreless for the first 9:34 of game action. Princeton found itself trailing, 7-2, at halftime. Head coach Dustin Litvak‘s group could not make up the deficit in the third stanza as it was down, 8-3, after 24 minutes.
Princeton finally made a push as Keller Maloney scored three straight times before Roko Pozaric got the home team within one, 8-7, with 1:43 to go. The Tigers had the ball with 40 seconds left but couldn’t covert before an empty-goal tally gave St. Francis a two-score cushion.
Maloney led the way for Princeton in the game with three markers, while Pozaric deposited a pair. Mitchell Cooper and George Caras both found the back twine once in support of a 14 save effort by netminder Antonio Knez.
Prior to the Iona contest, Princeton honored its five seniors, Wyatt Benson, Ned Bless, Cooper, Billy Motherway and Miles Wilson. The group has helped Princeton win 58 games and secure the 2018 NWPC Championship in 2018.
The Tigers blitzed the Gaels with six goals in the first 4:26 of the contest and eventually held an 8-3 lead after the first frame. Princeton scored the first three tallies of the second quarter to go up eight, 11-3. The home unit led by 10, 15-5, at the break and was not threatened in the second half.
With the win over Iona, Princeton clinched the No. 1 seed in the NWPC Tournament with an 8-2 record. Even with a Harvard University (7-2) victory at Brown University on Sunday, November 7, in the Crimson’s regular season finale, the Tigers will have the tiebreaker over the Crimson because of goal differential in their two matchups as Harvard claimed a 10-8 victory on October 2 in Princeton before the Tigers took a 12-9 victory in Cambridge on October 30.
Information courtesy Princeton University Athletics Communications
