Princeton University Athletics
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/ Men's Water Polo
ATT
/ Men's Water Polo
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/ Men's Water Polo
LATT
/ Men's Water Polo
LATT
/ Men's Water Polo
Men's Water Polo Visits Harvard for ECAC Championships
September 19, 2008 | Men's Water Polo
The 18th-ranked Princeton men's water polo team travels to Harvard this weekend to compete at the ECAC Championships. The Tigers finished fourth at the event last season and will take on 12th-ranked St. Francis in their opening game.
Princeton opened up the season a week ago by going 1-3 at the Princeton Invitational. The Tigers were matched up with four ranked teams and lost two close ones to start it out. The first came on Friday night in an 11-9 loss to ninth-ranked UC San Diego. A Princeton chance to even the game late at 10-10 hit the post and the Tritons quickly countered to make the score 11-9 and then held for the win. A day later, the Tigers fell 10-9 to 15th-ranked Santa Clara when the Broncos scored with 19 seconds left to win.
Princeton's third game came against third-ranked Stanford, which showed its strength in a 12-2 win. The Tigers played strong defensively early, holding Stanford to just one goal in the opening quarter, but the Cardinal eventually proved too strong. The Tigers closed out the weekend with a 14-9 win over 18th-ranked Brown on the final day of the tournament. Tied at 5-5 at the half, the Tigers outscored Brown 5-1 in the third quarter to gain a lead and never look back.
Ten players scored goals for Princeton during the weekend. Juniors Eric Vreeland and Mark Zalewski, who each have six goals scored, lead the group. Sophomore Matt Hale comes next with five and senior Brendan Colgan has four. Vreeland also has six assists and 10 ejections drawn to lead the team, while Hale's eight steals is tops on the team. All three Tiger goalkeepers saw action during the weekend with sophomore Mike Merlone seeing the bulk of playing time. He made 25 saves in three games.
The Tigers are the eight seed for this weekend's ECAC Championships and therefore have drawn top-seeded St. Francis in the quarterfinal round. The ECAC seeding is based on the finish from last year's Eastern Championship. The Tigers gained entry into the field as Navy elected to travel to the NorCal Tournament rather than participate.
Princeton is 9-14 all-time against St. Francis and is 2-7 in games played at neutral sites. The Tigers last met St. Francis a season ago in the semifinal round of the ECAC Championships in a game the Terriers won 9-7 as a fourth quarter comeback by the Tigers came up just short despite three goals from Zalewski.
The other quarterfinal matchups include second-seeded George Washington against seventh-seeded Iona, third-seeded Harvard against sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins and fourth-seeded Bucknell against fifth-seeded Brown. The Princeton-St. Francis game is paired with the Brown-Bucknell game.
Click here for the complete ECAC Championship schedule.
Princeton opened up the season a week ago by going 1-3 at the Princeton Invitational. The Tigers were matched up with four ranked teams and lost two close ones to start it out. The first came on Friday night in an 11-9 loss to ninth-ranked UC San Diego. A Princeton chance to even the game late at 10-10 hit the post and the Tritons quickly countered to make the score 11-9 and then held for the win. A day later, the Tigers fell 10-9 to 15th-ranked Santa Clara when the Broncos scored with 19 seconds left to win.
Princeton's third game came against third-ranked Stanford, which showed its strength in a 12-2 win. The Tigers played strong defensively early, holding Stanford to just one goal in the opening quarter, but the Cardinal eventually proved too strong. The Tigers closed out the weekend with a 14-9 win over 18th-ranked Brown on the final day of the tournament. Tied at 5-5 at the half, the Tigers outscored Brown 5-1 in the third quarter to gain a lead and never look back.
Ten players scored goals for Princeton during the weekend. Juniors Eric Vreeland and Mark Zalewski, who each have six goals scored, lead the group. Sophomore Matt Hale comes next with five and senior Brendan Colgan has four. Vreeland also has six assists and 10 ejections drawn to lead the team, while Hale's eight steals is tops on the team. All three Tiger goalkeepers saw action during the weekend with sophomore Mike Merlone seeing the bulk of playing time. He made 25 saves in three games.
The Tigers are the eight seed for this weekend's ECAC Championships and therefore have drawn top-seeded St. Francis in the quarterfinal round. The ECAC seeding is based on the finish from last year's Eastern Championship. The Tigers gained entry into the field as Navy elected to travel to the NorCal Tournament rather than participate.
Princeton is 9-14 all-time against St. Francis and is 2-7 in games played at neutral sites. The Tigers last met St. Francis a season ago in the semifinal round of the ECAC Championships in a game the Terriers won 9-7 as a fourth quarter comeback by the Tigers came up just short despite three goals from Zalewski.
The other quarterfinal matchups include second-seeded George Washington against seventh-seeded Iona, third-seeded Harvard against sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins and fourth-seeded Bucknell against fifth-seeded Brown. The Princeton-St. Francis game is paired with the Brown-Bucknell game.
Click here for the complete ECAC Championship schedule.
Tuesday, June 04
Wednesday, June 22
Monday, June 06
Wednesday, December 01