CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The No. 8-ranked Princeton University men’s water polo team wrapped up the regular season with an undefeated mark in Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) play behind as the Tigers took down No. 15 Harvard University, 10-7, and Division III No. 9 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 22-5.
The Tigers last went unbeaten in conference matchups during the regular season in 2015. Princeton went on to win the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship that year at MIT.
In the day’s opening game at Harvard, Princeton outlasted their perennial foe to clinch the No. 1 seed for the NWPC Championship on Friday-Sunday, November 18-20, in Providence, R.I., at Brown University.
Even at two-all in the early going, goals from Roko Pozaric and Yurian Quinones provided Princeton a 4-2 lead after the first quarter. The Tigers led by three goals twice in the second frame before carrying a 6-4 lead into halftime.
Harvard opened the second half with a goal, but tallies from Pierce Maloney and Logan McCarroll extend the road squad’s advantage back to three.
The Crimson made one more push, closing the gap back to one, 8-7, with half the fourth quarter to go, but consecutive goals from Roko Pozaric finished off the scoring.
Pozaric finished the game with four goals, while Joan Coloma, Ryan Neapole, Quinones, Keller Maloney, Pierce Maloney and McCarroll each accounted for solo markers.
Antonio Knez made nine saves to collect the win in cage for Princeton.
In the regular season finale for the Tigers, MIT Engineers scored a goal to cut its deficit to one, 5-4, with 32 seconds to go in the first quarter – but did not score again until 6:10 left in the third quarter – as the Tigers claimed a 17-score victory
Princeton had scored eight straight times during that stretch as the squad’s 22 total goals are tied for the fourth-most in program history for a single game.
George Caras led the way for the Tigers with six strikes, while Nick Hovsmith (three), Matej Sekulic (three), JP Ohl (two) and McCarroll (two) also notched multi-score games. Pierce Maloney, Quinones, Coloma, Neapole, Gavin Molly and Isaac Rotenberg each found the rear of the cage once in support of a 14 save effort from netminder West Temkin.
Information courtesy Princeton University Athletics Communications
