BERKELEY, CALIF. — No. 7-ranked Princeton University came up five goals short in a 15-10 loss to host/No. 6 University of California and bettered No. 15 the University of California-San Diego by seven tallies, 17-10, on the second day of the Overnght Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invitational.
Battling the host Golden Bears at the Spieker Aquatics Complex, Princeton struck first less than a minute into the game with a goal from Luke Johnston followed by another tally from Roko Pozaric to take a 2-0 lead. Cal fought back and tallied three of their own to take the first quarter.
California added another marker to start the second quarter, but Gavin Appeldorn scored to keep it a one goal game. However, Cal went on a run and recorded another three prior to Pozaric notching back to back goals to cut into the lead for a 7-5 Princeton deficit entering halftime.
Princeton added five second half goals with three in the third quarter and a pair in the fourth quater, but Cal deposited four strikes in both frames to hold off the Tigers.
Pozaric paced Princeton with four goals, while Appeldorn, George Caras, Johnston, Finn LeSieur, Logan McCarroll and Enrique Nuño each chipped in solo scores. Kristóf Kovács made 10 saves in taking the loss.
In the second meeting between the two teams this season following an earlier 12-11 Princeton win on September 14 at home in DeNunzio Pool, the Tigers immediately took command against UC-San Diego and never looked back at the Legends Aquatics Center. Princeton went on a 5-0 run to open the matchup, including two first quarter goals from Appeldorn, to overwhelm the Tritons.
Kovács held UC-San Diego scoreless through the first eight minutes of play.
The Tigers owned a 8-3 advantage by halftime as the eight first half goals were recorded by six different scorers.
Princeton closed out the second half by outscoring the Tritons 4-2 in the third quarter prior to keeping pace with UC-San Diego in the fourth quarter as both teams found the back of the cage five times.
Appeldorn and Vladan Mitrovic both scored four times in the victory with Johnston (two), Nuño (two), Ádám Peocz (two), Nathan Banos, JP Ohl and Pozaric also contributing on offense to support an eight-save effort by Kovács.
Information courtesy Princeton University Athletics Communications
