Princeton University Athletics
Kixmiller's Game-Winner Lifts Princeton Over UMass 6-4
April 30, 2000 | Women's Water Polo
April 30, 2000
PRINCETON, N.J. - The old saying goes, "Third time's a charm." For the University of Massachusetts, the charm will have to wait for a fourth meeting as the Princeton women's water polo team defeated the Minutewomen for the third time this season with a 6-4 victory in the title game of the 2000 Eastern Championship at DeNunzio Pool.
UMass' first shot hit the right post, the second shot hit the left post, and the third and fourth shots went right into the hands of goalie Goga Vukmirovic (Sarajevo, Bosnia). That seemed to be the story of the game, as the senior captain made 12 saves and held the Minutewomen to only four goals for the win.
With the victory, Princeton is now 24-3 on the year and will head to the National Collegiate Championship as the No. 8 seed--the highest seeded team from the East Coast. The three-day tournament begins May 5, at the University of Indiana, with The Tigers taking on No. 9 Hawaii at 9:15 a.m. at the Indiana Natatorium. Princeton got on the board first when tournament MVP Adele McCarthy-Beauvais (Fr., Haydenville, Mass.) scored her first of three goals of the day, as she found the back of the net off a pass from Katherine Kixmiller (Jr., Menlo Park, Calif.) with 2:19 remaining in the first quarter. Kelly Chassey opened the scoring for the Minutewomen early in the second quarter. On a UMass fast break, Vukmirovic came out of goal trying to make the steal, but in a scramble the ball was flipped to Chassey, who had no problem scoring in the empty cage.
McCarthy-Beauvais scored 26 seconds later to give Princeton the 2-1 lead. Both teams traded goals in the final 30 seconds, and the Orange and Black led 3-2 at halftime. UMass scored the only goal in of the third quarter to knot the score at 3-3 with one quarter to play.
The Tigers regained the lead on a goal by Kixmiller less than a minute into the fourth quarter. A four-meter goal by UMass' Katie Grogan evened the issue at 4-4 with 5:48 to play. After several missed opportunities by both teams, Kixmiller fired a bullet into the top right corner of the goal for what proved to be the game winner with 2:15 on the clock.
Cassie Nichols (So., Santa Barbara, Calif.) scored an insurance goal for the Tigers with 1:37 to play, and Jenny Edwards (Fr., Houston, Texas) made a steal with 35 second on the clock to preserve the win.