Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Water Polo Team Enters ECAC Championship as Second Seed
September 16, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
PRINCETON (9/16/10) -- The Princeton men's water polo team visits Harvard this weekend to compete at the ECAC Championship. Princeton enters as the tournament's second seed and finished as the runner up a season ago.
The tournament gets underway on Friday night at Harvard's Blodgett Pool but Princeton won't play its first game until Saturday morning. The top four seeds in the tournament: Bucknell, Princeton, St. Francis and Johns Hopkins, all received first-round byes and will open play in the quarterfinal round. Princeton's first opponent will be the winner of Friday night's game between host Harvard and MIT.
Princeton opened its season last week with a 3-1 record at its season-opening Princeton Invitational. The Tigers began play on the long end of an 11-5 decision to now 14th-ranked Cal Baptist. Princeton rebounded from the disappointing result to knock off then 13th-ranked Santa Clara 11-9 that evening in front of a national television audience on ESPNU. The Tigers completed the weekend with wins against Fordham and Harvard.
Sophomore Tim Wenzlau led all Princeton scorers with 12 goals over the weekend, including five wins the wins over Santa Clara and Harvard, and was named the Southern Division Player of the Week. Classmate Tommy Donahue also had a big weekend, scoring 10 goals and adding five assists for a total of 15 points. Junior Chris Cottrell added five goals and senior Matt Hale had three goals, six assists and seven steals. In goal, senior Mike Merlone made 34 saves including 10 in the win over Santa Clara. He also added five assists and was named the Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week.
Princeton gained one spot in the latest national poll and now sits ranked 17th following the 3-1 weekend. The 12-team ECAC field features a total of three ranked teams. In addition to the Tigers, 13th-ranked St. Francis and 20th-ranked Bucknell will be in Cambridge.
Princeton will open the event with either MIT or Harvard on Saturday morning. Princeton most recently played Harvard last Saturday and topped the Crimson 14-9 after rallying from a 6-5 halftime deficit. Wenzlau had five goals in the win to lead Princeton and Donahue added four more. Merlone made eight saves. Princeton and MIT last met late last season in the opening round of Easterns. Princeton never trailed and won the game 11-9. Sophomore Jack Ruth, junior Mike Helou and Cottrell had goals in the win.
Last season Princeton hosted the ECAC Championship at DeNunzio Pool and fell to Navy in the title game. Princeton defeated Fordham and Brown in the opening rounds to reach the final. Princeton was also seeded second in last year's tournament.
Looking ahead, the Tigers open their CWPA Southern Division regular season schedule next weekend with games on the road at Johns Hopkins, Navy and George Washington.