Princeton University
Santa Clara
Players Mentioned
No. 12 Men's Water Polo Powers Past Santa Clara in West Coast Opener, 12-7
September 18, 2015 | Men's Water Polo
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The 12th-ranked Princeton University men's water polo team opened up its West Coast swing with a 12-7 victory over Santa Clara University.
Rebounding from its first setback of the season, the Tigers improved to 5-1 on the year and 7-2 all-time against the Broncos. Princeton returns to action on Sept. 19-20 at the Kap7 NorCal Invitational hosted by Stanford University. The Tigers open Invitational play on Saturday, Sept. 19 against No. 8 UC-Irvine.
Holding a 5-2 scoring edge in the first quarter, Princeton battled Santa Clara to a 1-1 tie in the second period. Blowing things open in the third quarter the Tigers netted four unanswered scores to build a 10-3 cushion. Santa Clara would go on to outscore Princeton 4-2 over the final eight minutes, but it was too little, too late, with the Orange and Black holding onto a five-goal margin of victory.
Jordan Colina led the Tigers with four goals, three steals, two blocks and a pair of drawn ejections while also going 2-1 on sprints. Ryan Wilson turned in a hat-trick and added three steals while Jovan Jeremic found the back of the opposing net on two of his three shots.
Bret Hinrichs, Thomas Nelson, and Michael Swart accounted for the other three Princeton goals, while Jamie Kuprenas had two assists and two steals. Swart also finished with a team-high four steals.
Vojislav Mitrovic posted 13 saves while logging 29:15 minutes. Turning away four shots apiece in the first two periods, he had three saves in the third quarter. Mitrovic tacked on two more stops in the first 5:16 of the fourth before giving way to freshman Ryan Melosini, who made two saves in the game's final minutes.
Goals: Colina 4, Wilson 3, Jeremic 2, Nelson 1, Hinrichs 1, Swart 1
Assists: Kuprenas 2, Wachtell 1, Wilson 1, McGoldrick 1
Steals: Swart 4, Colina 3, Wilson 3, Kuprenas 2, Nelson 1
Ejections Drawn: Fink 3, Colina 2, Nelson 1, Kuprenas 1, Wilson 1, Jeremic 1
Blocks: Colina 2, Wachtell 1, Wilson 1, Jeremic 1, McGoldrick 1
Sprints: Colina 2-1, Wilson 0-1
Saves: Mitrovic 13, Melosini 2