Princeton University
No. 19 Hartwick
Players Mentioned
No. 8 Women?s Water Polo Escapes Late Scares, Picks Up Pair of Wins
March 09, 2014 | Women's Water Polo
As they have done all year, the eighth-ranked Princeton women's water polo team found a way to win. The Tigers escaped a pair of late runs en route to victories over No. 19 Hartwick, 8-7, and Iona, 9-7, to improve to 13-0.
Senior Molly McBee led the Tigers with six goals and three steals on the day, while classmate Katie Rigler recorded two goals in both games and had an assist and a steal.
Goalie Ashleigh Johnson was peppered with shots in both games, finishing with 33 saves and two steals. The sophomore goalie matched her second-best career saves total with 19 versus a firing Iona side.
Princeton opened the tournament quickly creating a 7-2 lead by the third quarter versus Hartwick and looked poised to ride out the victory.
Not going down easily the Hawks put together a five-goal fourth, but a Diana Murphy goal would be enough to edge the Tigers past Hartwick to improve to 3-0 on the year versus ranked opponents.
In the third meeting this year with Iona, Princeton labored to set its pace and establish its 6-3 halftime lead. Over the opening 16 minutes, the Gaels pounded the Tiger goal and Johnson made 14 of her 19 saves in the game.
Iona attempted to cut Princeton's lead with a second half rally of its own, 4-3, but it would not be enough to derail the Tigers.
Princeton will conclude the two-day tournament on Sunday at 8 a.m. with No. 18 Santa Clara.
No. 8 Princeton: 2 – 1 – 4 – 1 – 8
No. 19 Hartwick: 1 – 0 – 1 – 5 – 7
Goals: Murphy 1, Hatcher 2, McBee 2, Rigler 2, Temple 1
Assists: Dunstan 1, Temple 1
Steals: Murphy 1, Hatcher 1, McBee 2, Rigler 1, Hallock 1, Klein 1
Saves: Johnson 14
No. 8 Princeton: 3 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 9
Iona: 2 – 1 – 3 – 1 – 7
Goals: Hatcher 1, McBee 4, Rigler 2, Gross 1
Assists: Hatcher 1, Dunstan 1, Rigler 1, Temple 2
Steals: McBee 1, Johnson 2
Saves: Johnson 19