Princeton University
George Washington
Players Mentioned
Women's Water Polo Defeats George Washington at Easterns
April 30, 2011 | Women's Water Polo
Princeton wasted no time in putting the game away as the Tigers ran out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and did not allow the Colonials to close within three goals the rest of the way. The victory marks the Tigers third of the year over George Washington.
Molly McBee started the scoring for the Black & Orange with a man-up goal 44 seconds into the game to stake the Tigers to a lead they would not relinquish. Following a catch and shoot blast by Katie Rigler at 3:44, Hutchison took over the game registering back-to-back even-strength scores at 3:07 and 55 seconds to make it a 4-0 contest through eight minutes of play.
Saranna Soroka added to the spread to open the second period as she found the back of the net on a man-up chance at 5:00 to make it 5-0. The teams traded goals for the remainder of the half as Adina Zepfel broke up Princeton's shutout bid with a marker at 4:02. Cayley Bowles returned the lead to five with a tally off an exclusion chance at 3:32, but the Colonials trimmed the deficit back to 6-3 with consecutive strikes in less than 30 seconds by Allison Peotter and Zepfel at 2:29 and 2:03, respectively.
Prior to halftime Princeton regained some of the insurance it lost in the preceding moments as Audrey Zak rifled a five-meter penalty shot past GW goalie Charlotte Schou to set the scoreboard at 7-3 going into intermission.
George Washington mowed its deficit down to three goals once again to open the second half as Katherine Berry uncorked a shot that eluded Princeton goalie Grace du Pont at the 7:35 mark. Princeton rebuilt the lead better than it was before with four straight markers by Brittany Zwirner, Hutchison, Lauren Brunner and Sierra Schelegle at 5:49, 1:43, 48 seconds and 10 seconds to take an 11-4 lead and terminate George Washington's hopes of a comeback.
The run continued to open the fourth period as Rigler converted on a five-meter penalty shot (4:33), Hutchison tossed in her fourth goal of the afternoon (2:57) and Julie Phillips contributed her first goal of the tournament to finish out the Tigers' 7-0 scoring run and hold a 14-4 lead with less than two minutes to play.
Rachael Bentley concluded the game by notching the 19th goal of the contest with six seconds to go to set the margin of victory at nine.
For Princeton, du Pont recorded eight saves in relief of starting and wining goalie Kristen Ward as the duo combined for 11 stops as the Tigers' last line of defense. On the other end of the pool, Schou stopped five shots in taking the loss.
Princeton will play Harvard on Sunday at 12 noon.
George Washington 0 3 1 1 - 5
Princeton 4 3 4 3 - 14
Goals: Hutchison 4, Rigler 2, Bowles, Brunner, McBee, Phillips, Schelegle, Soroka, Zak, Zwirner
Assists: McBee 2, Bowles, Hutchison, Levine, Phillips, Rigler, Soroka, Wilcox
Saves: Ward 2 (16:00), du Pont 8 (16:00)