Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Water Polo Set to Host No. 19 Navy
October 02, 2014 | Men's Water Polo
| Gametimes | Sunday, Oct. 5 Princeton vs. Navy - 12 p.m. |
| @pwaterpolo l @PUTigers l @PUTigers_live | |
| Rosters | Princeton l Navy |
| Statistics | Princeton l Navy |
| Last Meeting |
Princeton 12, Navy 7 (Sept. 20, 2014) |
| Last Weekend | Princeton Defeats George Washington, Bucknell l GeorgeWashington/Bucknell Video Highlights |
| Live Coverage |
Webcast |
GEORGE WASHINGTON/BUCKNELL HIGHLIGHTS
CWPA SOUTHERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Turning in a career performance in a 9-6 win over Bucknell, Alex Gow made a personal best 19 saves en route to Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week honors. Making five saves in each of the first three periods, Gow tacked on four stops in the final frame to set a new career benchmark, besting his 17-save performance against Mercyhurst on Nov. 10, 2013. In his first two years, Gow posted a 24-13 record with a 0.524 save percentage. Logging 176:00 minutes in net this season, Gow is 4-1, having stopped 81 of the 131 shots he has faced (0.618).
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Improving to 10-1 on the season and 5-1 in CWPA Southern Division play, Princeton picked up a pair of league wins over George Washington and Bucknell last weekend. Squaring off with the Colonials for the second time in a week, the Tigers secured a 13-7 victory to improve to 36-1 all-time against GW. Thomas Nelson paved the way for the Princeton attack with a season-high four goals. Jordan Colina and Bret Hinrichs each turned in a hat trick with Colina also nabbing four steals. Jamie Kuprenas chipped in with a goal and three assists, while Vojislav Mitrovic made 10 saves. Behind Alex Gow's career-high 19 stops, Princeton secured a 9-6 decision over the Bison in Sunday's afternoon session. Drew Hoffenberg netted three goals, while Kuprenas and Jovan Jeremic each had a pair of scores. Connor McGoldrick added three assists.
CRASHING THE PARTY
Breaking up California's stranglehold on top half of the CWPA Top-20, Princeton ranked 10th in this week's poll as the only non-California based program to crack the top-10. UCLA took home the top honor followed by Stanford, Cal-Berkeley, USC and UC-Santa Barbara in the top-five. Long Beach State came in sixth with Pacific, UC-San Diego, UC-Irvine and Princeton rounding out the top-10. Ranked 13th during the preseason, the Tigers moved up two spots to No. 11 on Sept. 10 before tying for eighth on Sept. 17. Princeton's No. 8 ranking was the highest-ever by an East Coast program in the poll's modern era (post-2006).
RARE COMPANY
Having won 10 of its first 11 games, Princeton is off to one of the best starts in program history. The 2011 squad also began the year 10-1 while the 2004 team emerged victorious in each of its first 10 games. After dropping three straight, the 2004 Tigers rebounded and later pieced together a school-record 13-game win streak to finish the year with a program-best 25 wins. In 2003, Princeton began the year 11-0 before eventually closing out the season with a 23-4 ledger. The program's best start belongs to the 1999 squad, which won 16 of its first 17 games.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
One of the program's most prolific scorers, Drew Hoffenberg recently became just the fifth player in Princeton history to surpass the 200-goal plateau. With three scores against Bucknell on Sunday, the senior co-captain upped his career total to 202. Hoffenberg also ranks second on the program's assists chart (112) as one of only two players to collect at least 100 career helpers. Leading the Tigers in points in each of his first three seasons, Hoffenberg is the only player in school history to register at least 200 goals and 100 assists.
BALANCING ACT
While there are several familiar names on the top of the Tigers' scoring sheet, Princeton has relied on a balanced scoring attack in 2014, with 13 of the squad's 14 field players registering a goal through the team's first 11 games. Hoffenberg leads the pack with 26 goals and 11 assists, while freshman standout Jordan Colina has 20 posted tallies. Thomas Nelson and Jamie Kuprenas have scored 18 and 14 goals, respectively, with Kuprenas also amassing 14 assists. Jovan Jeremic is in the midst of another solid season with 13 goals and 12 assists, while Bret Hinrichs and Connor McGoldrick have combined for 18 scores and 13 helpers.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Having already defeated Navy in Annapolis earlier this season (12-7), Princeton will look to improve upon a 26-35 overall mark against the Midshipmen. Since the inaugural meeting in 1996, the Orange and Black are 7-13 at home and 8-15 on the road against Navy. Dating back to last season, the Tigers have won four of the last five meetings between the league rivals.
LAST MEETING
Jumping out to a 3-1 first quarter lead, Princeton scored six unanswered in the second period to build an eight-goal cushion it would not relinquish. Drew Hoffenberg led the Tiger offense with four goals and an assist while Jordan Colina had three goals and two steals. Jovan Jeremic chipped in with three assists while Thomas Nelson went 3-0 on sprints with a pair of steals. Vojislav Mitrovic played all 32 minutes in net, making 14 saves.
SCOUTING NAVY
Opening the year with eight straight victories, Navy dropped seven of its next eight outings. Starting a West Coast swing with a 19-5 loss to Cal, the Midshipmen dropped their first three games at the Aggie Shootout to Pacific (16-6), UC-Davis (13-9) and Stanford (24-4) before putting the brakes on a five-game losing skid with a decisive 22-4 triumph over Occidental. Thomas Patterson currently leads Navy with 44 points (35G, 9A), while Carpenter Warren has 35 points on 23 goals and 12 assists. Will Weggeland has 25 points on the year (20G, 5A), with Robert Sutherland and Carl Dowzicky tallying 22 (16G, 6A) and 20 (16G, 4A) points, respectively. Garrett Sabesky and Tyler Barker have seen the majority of time in net. Entering the weekend, Sabesky has a 0.440 save percentage in 14 appearances, while Barker has stopped 50 of the 96 shots (0.521) he has faced.