Princeton University
Bucknell
Players Mentioned
Men's Water Polo Holds Off Bucknell 7-6; Advances to Eastern Final Sunday
November 22, 2009 | Men's Water Polo
Princeton jumped out to an early lead with a three-goal first quarter and built a lead it would not relinquish, building leads of 5-2 and 7-4, although Bucknell cut the gap in the final quarter as Princeton held on for the win.
Senior David de L'Arbre put the Tigers on the board 1:02 into the first period as he beat the Bison defense for a score at the 6:58 mark. The lead grew to 3-1 by the end of the period as senior Douglas Wigley and sophomore Mike Helou popped in goals at 3:41 and 1:04 to sandwich a score by Bucknell's Spencer Richley at the 1:51 mark.
Bucknell pulled within a goal on a shot by Richie Hyden with 3:54 left in the second period, but Wigley scored on shots at 2:20 and 0:24 to make it a 5-2 Princeton lead. Richley closed out the first half scoring with a man-up goal at the six seconds mark as the Tigers went to their bench leading 5-3 at halftime.
The teams traded scores in the third as senior Mark Zalewski and junior Matt Hale finished on point-blank chances at 5:27 and 2:43, respectively, to surround a man-up goal by Bucknell's Howie Kalter with 4:44 left in the period to make it 7-4 through 24 minutes.
Bucknell continued to pressure in the final quarter as Sean Coghlan scored a natural goal with 2:05 to play and Kalter cracked a shot past Merlone at 1:15 on a man-up opportunity to pull the Bucknell to within one at 7-6.
Needing a final goal to even the scoreboard and bring on overtime, the Bison came up empty as the Princeton defense locked down and forced Bucknell to launch a desperation heave with seven seconds left on the game clock and the shot clock expiring to hold on for the victory and advance to the championship game.
Princeton will face Navy tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. for the league championship in a rematch of the 2008 championship game. The teams also met for the Southern Championship two weekends ago, a game that went to Navy by a 10-5 score. Princeton has one win in four meetings with Navy this season.
No. 18 Princeton University 3 2 2 0 -- 7
Bucknell University 1 2 1 2 -- 6
Bucknell Goals: Howie Kalter (2); Spencer Richley (2); Sean Coghlan; Richie Hyden
Princeton Goals: Douglas Wigley (3); David de L'Arbre; Matt Hale; Mike Helou; Mark Zalewski
Saves: Bucknell - Nick Donahue (5) ; Princeton - Mike Merlone (8)
Exclusions: Bucknell - 4 ; Princeton - 10
Sprints: Bucknell - 1-for-4 ; Princeton- 3-for-4
Referees: Michael Goldenberg, Mark Koganov