Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Water Polo Looks to Stay Hot at North-South Tourney
September 16, 2011 | Men's Water Polo
LINKS: Weekend Schedule
PRINCETON (9/15/11) -- The Princeton men's water polo team opened its season with five wins last weekend and it will look to continue that strong start this weekend when it visits the Naval Academy to compete in the North-South Tournament. Princeton will meet Iona, Connecticut College and Fordham in the event.Princeton is a perfect 5-0 after defeating Santa Clara, Fordham, Harvard, Brown and MIT during its opening weekend at home. The five-win weekend helped the Tigers jump three spots in the CWPA Men's Varsity Poll to No. 14, which makes the Tigers the highest ranked team on the East Coast, one spot ahead of 15th-ranked Navy.
Princeton scored 61 goals over its five wins and was led by freshman Kayj Shannon, who scored a team-high 12 goals over the weekend. He was followed by junior Tim Wenzlau's six goals, while freshman Thomas Nelson added five. A total of 18 Tigers scored at least once over the opening weekend. Freshman Drew Hoffenberg added a team-high 10 assists, while freshman Sam Butler's seven steals led the team. Senior co-captain Mike Helou had a team-best nine drawn ejections, while sophomore and last year's Southern Rookie of the Year Kurt Buchbinder won five sprints.
Goalies Tyler Amina and Nick Gilligan held Princeton's five opponents to 27 goals in the five games. Amina stopped 35 of the 50 shots he faced in his first significant collegiate action. Gilligan, normally a field player, provided depth at the position and stopped 13 of 25 shots.
This weekend will feature teams from both the Southern and Northern Division facing each other in crossover games. Princeton will begin the weekend on Saturday morning against Iona, a team Princeton topped 12-5 last season at DeNunzio Pool. The Tigers will then face Connecticut College on Saturday and Fordham on Sunday morning. Princeton has never played against Connecticut College, and last faced Fordham last weekend, winning 14-6.
Princeton will also field a B team for two games over the weekend. The group will face the Northern Virginia Club team on Saturday and Navy's B team on Sunday.