Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Season Recap: Women's Water Polo Reaches CWPA Semifinals
May 03, 2016 | Women's Water Polo
Here's a recap of the 2016 Princeton women's water polo season -
Signature Wins: During the team's trip to California, the Tigers defeated then No. 20 nationally ranked San Diego State, 8-5 on Mar. 12. Sophomore Haley Wan (two goals, one assist) and freshmen Lindsey Kelleher (one goal, two assists) each had three points to pace the Tigers' offense. Four different players snagged three steals while sophomore Helena van Brande made eight saves in the win.
Princeton took down No. 18 Harvard for the third time in the first round of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship on Apr. 29, 12-8. Wan scored a hat trick to lead the Tigers' offense. Freshman Eliza Britt, sophomore Chelsea Johnson and Kelleher had multi-goal outings while van Brande made 10 saves in the win.
Awards:
All-CWPA Team: Pippa Temple (second team), Haley Wan (second team)
All-CWPA Tournament Team: Pippa Temple, Haley Wan, Chelsea Johnson (second team)
CWPA Player of the Week – Emily Smith (Mar. 17), Chelsea Johnson (Mar. 9), Haley Wan (Feb. 16)
CWPA Defensive Player of the Week – Chelsea Johnson (Apr. 20), Helena van Brande (May 3)
CWPA Rookie of the Week – Lindsey Kelleher (Mar. 9)
Notes: The Tigers won 19 games this season … It was the fifth straight year that Princeton reached the CWPA semifinals … 2016 campaign started with 10 wins in first 11 games … The team scored 18 goals in back-to-back contests (Feb. 27-28) … Princeton went 6-2 against teams from California … The Tigers had seven players score at least 20 goals this season … Emily Wan became one of just 15 players in program history to score at least 50 goals (58) … Wan had at a 40-40-40 season with 58 goals, 44 assists and 40 steals.
Looking Ahead: The Tigers will return five of its top seven goal scorers next season. Another big returner will be senior-in-waiting Ashleigh Johnson. During her time away, Johnson was the starting goalkeeper for the USA Water Polo National Team in the Rio Olympics. The 2015 CWPA Player of the Year has posted an 81-13 overall mark, turning away 1,062 of the 1,533 shots she has faced en route to a 0.693 save percentage for Princeton. Putting together three of the highest single-season save totals in program history, Johnson is already the Tigers' career leader with 1,062 stops.