Players Mentioned
No. 9 Men's Water Polo Set for NCAA Play-In Game Against UC-San Diego
December 01, 2015 | Men's Water Polo
PRINCETON NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME NOTES (PDF)
COMPLETE NCAA BRACKET
PRINCETON VS. UCSD: LIVE STATS
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The ninth-ranked Princeton University men's water polo team returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 3 with an NCAA Play-In game against the University of California-San Diego.
Princeton and UCSD will be the first of two NCAA Play-In games played at the University of Southern California's Uytengsu Aquatics Center with game time set for 5 p.m. (PT). The host Trojans will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the other play-in game at 7 p.m. (PT).
The winners of Thursday's play-ins will square off against either top-seeded UCLA or No. 2 California in the national semifinals at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center on Dec. 5, with the championship game set for Sunday, Dec. 6.
Tickets for Thursday's play-in game can be purchased here. Live stats and a webcast are also available.
LAST TIME OUT
• Princeton captured its fourth CWPA Championship with wins over Bucknell, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins.
• Ryan Wilson and Matt Payne each netted three goals in the tournament opener against the Bison, while Vojislav Mitrovic made 14 saves.
• Thomas Nelson recorded four goals against Harvard in the CWPA semifinal while Jordan Colina had two goals and two assists. Mitrovic tied his own single-game program record with 20 saves.
• Nelson turned in four more goals in the CWPA final against Johns Hopkins, while Mitrovic stopped 14 shots.
AWARDS SEASON
• The CWPA's Player of the Year, Thomas Nelson recently picked up his third Southern Division Player of the Week honor of the season on Nov. 23 (eighth overall).
• A first-team CWPA All-Tournament team selection, Nelson racked up 10 goals, five steals, and five drawn ejections in three championship games.
• The championship's Most Valuable Player and a first-team All-Southern selection, Mitrovic collected 48 saves in three tournament games en route to a 0.696 save percentage.
• Including his DPOTW honor on Nov. 23, Mitrovic has earned five CWPA Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week awards in 2015 (nine overall).
• Princeton has combined to win 11 CWPA Southern Division weekly honors this season.
• On Nov. 19, the Tigers placed five players on the CWPA All-Southern teams. Mitrovic and Nelson each earned first-team honors, while Jovan Jeremic, Jordan Colina, and Jamie Kuprenas garnered recognition on the second team.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
• Princeton checked in at No. 9 in the latest CWPA poll.
• The Tigers are the only non-California school currently ranked in the varsity top-20.
• The Orange and Black opened the year tied for 11th in the preseason poll.
• Princeton's No. 9 ranking is the highest since climbing to No. 8 on Sept. 17, 2014.
• The Tigers' No. 8 ranking from last season was the highest-ever by an East Coast program in the poll's modern era (post-2006).
• Princeton had a final ranking of ninth in the 2004 CWPA varsity poll.
• The Orange and Black's 2004 finish marked the first time the program closed out a season ranked inside the top-10.
• The Tigers also received a ranking of ninth early in the 2005 season and were ranked 10th in the final polls of 2009 and 2011.
MILESTONE WATCH
• With 48 stops at the CWPA championship, Vojislav Mitrovic set a new program record for single-season saves (293).
• Recording 20 stops against Harvard in the CWPA semifinal (Nov. 21) and Johns Hopkins in the Southern final (Nov. 8), Mitrovic tied the program's single-game save record previously held by Peter Sabbatini (vs. Navy, 2003) and Scott Syverson (at Bucknell, 2007).
• With 253 saves during his rookie campaign, Mitrovic owns two of the three highest single-season save totals in school history.
• Mitrovic's 546 career saves already ranks third on the program charts.
• Thomas Nelson's 70 goals this season are fifth in the program record book.
• Nelson's 197 career scores sit sixth.
• Jamie Kuprenas is currently fourth all-time on Princeton's career assists list (94).
• With six more helpers, Kuprenas would become just the fourth Tiger to register at least 100 career helpers.
• Ryan Wilson's 37 assists this season are the fourth-most in Princeton history.
SHARING THE WEALTH
• Seven different Tigers have recorded at least 10 goals and 10 assists this season.
• Thomas Nelson leads the squad with 70 goals and 19 helpers while Ryan Wilson has dished out a team-high 37 assists to go along with 49 goals.
• Jordan Colina has 50 goals and 28 assists on the year, while Michael Swart has 29 goals and 31 helpers.
• Jovan Jeremic has collected 31 goals and 23 assists, while Matt Payne has 33 goals and 12 helpers.
• Jamie Kuprenas has 11 goals and 27 assists.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Princeton is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.
• The Tigers qualified for the NCAA Tournament as a club program in 1992.
• In their first NCAA Tournament as a varsity program (2004), the Tigers dropped a pair of close decisions to UCLA (L, 7-5) and Loyola Marymount (L, 6-5).
• In 2009, Princeton fell to USC in the national semifinals (L, 13-3) before defeating Loyola Marymount in the third-place game, 6-5.
• The Tigers again placed third in 2011, falling to USC (L, 17-4) before ousting UC-San Diego, 9-7.
AT A GLANCE: UC-SAN DIEGO
• Princeton is 3-6 all-time against UC-San Diego.
• UC-San Diego carries a 14-13 record into Thursday's play-in game, having defeated UC-Davis (W, 6-5) in the WWPA Championship.
• Chase Cockerill has a tem-high 54 goals to go along with 25 assists, while Nick Alexander has 37 goals and 56 helpers.
• Tyler Mancuso has 31 goals on the season, while Cole Martinez and Nassim Hmeidan each have 23 scores.
• Jack Turner has seen the majority of time in net, posting 195 saves and 23 steals.
• Earlier this season, Princeton topped UC-San Diego at the Kap7 NorCal Invitational, 12-9.
• Ryan Wilson and Jovan Jeremic each had three goals, while Michael Swart and Thomas Nelson combined for four scores.
• Wilson also had two assists and five steals, while Vojislav Mitrovic turned away 14 shots.