Friday, February 2
Tempe, Ariz.
2:00 PM (12:00 PM MST)
Princeton University
at
Arizona State
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
No. 20 Princeton Preps For Arizona State Challenge To Open 2018 Season
January 31, 2018 | Women's Water Polo
TEMPE, Ariz – The 2018 season gets underway this weekend (Feb. 2-4) for the No. 20 Princeton women's water polo team in the Arizona State Challenge.
A lot has changed since the 2017 CWPA Championship loss to Michigan last April.
New head coach.
No Ashleigh Johnson.
Becca Dorst was named the interim head coach of the team after Luis Nicolao stepped down to take the head coaching job for the men's squad at the U.S. Naval Academy earlier in this month.
Johnson, one of the greatest athletes in Princeton history, graduated as a four-time All-American and the program's all-time leader in saves … with an Olympic Gold Medal as well.
The Tigers do return five 20+ goal scorers including two-time All-American Haley Wan. Wan has improved her goal total from 34 as a freshman to 67 last season. Chelsea Johnson had a personal-best 45 tallies in 2017 while Lindsey Kelleher (31), Eliza Britt (26) and Amy Castellano (23) will also be back.
Princeton opens up the Challenge against No. 5 Arizona State on Friday (2 p.m.). Princeton is 2-2 all-time against the Sun Devils, but has not defeated them since 2005. The Tigers also battle No. 16 UC-San Diego (10:30 a.m.) and No. 21 Loyola Marymount (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday before wrapping up the weekend against No. 6 Hawaii on Sunday (12 p.m.). The women's water polo unit has defeated UC-San Diego in nine of the past 10 contests and Loyola Marymount twice in the past four seasons. Princeton is 2-5 in program history against Hawaii.
The meeting vs. Arizona State will be streamed on the Sun Devils' website while the other games will have live stats through FOSH.
Stanford is the top team in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Varsity Poll. Cal is second followed by USC, UCLA and Arizona State. Michigan is the top team in the CWPA at No. 9.
Following the Arizona State Challenge, the Tigers will host the Princeton Invitational (Feb. 16-18). Here's an updated schedule for the Invite –
Fri. Feb. 16
China vs. Princeton – 5:30 p.m.
Iona vs. George Washington – 6:45 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17
George Washington vs. Marist – 9:15 a.m.
Harvard vs. Iona – 10:30 a.m.
Princeton vs. NYAC – 11:45 a.m.
Bucknell vs. Marist – 1:00 p.m.
Wagner vs. Harvard – 2:15 p.m.
China vs. Villanova- 3:30 p.m.
Princeton vs. Iona – 4:45 p.m.
Bucknell vs. NYAC – 6:00 p.m.
Wagner vs. China – 7:15 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 18
Wagner vs. George Washington – 8:00 a.m.
Princeton vs. Villanova – 9:15 a.m.
Bucknell vs. Wagner – 10:30 a.m.
Princeton vs. George Washington – 11:45 a.m.
Villanova vs. Harvard – 1:00 p.m.
Bucknell vs. China
A lot has changed since the 2017 CWPA Championship loss to Michigan last April.
New head coach.
No Ashleigh Johnson.
Becca Dorst was named the interim head coach of the team after Luis Nicolao stepped down to take the head coaching job for the men's squad at the U.S. Naval Academy earlier in this month.
Johnson, one of the greatest athletes in Princeton history, graduated as a four-time All-American and the program's all-time leader in saves … with an Olympic Gold Medal as well.
The Tigers do return five 20+ goal scorers including two-time All-American Haley Wan. Wan has improved her goal total from 34 as a freshman to 67 last season. Chelsea Johnson had a personal-best 45 tallies in 2017 while Lindsey Kelleher (31), Eliza Britt (26) and Amy Castellano (23) will also be back.
Princeton opens up the Challenge against No. 5 Arizona State on Friday (2 p.m.). Princeton is 2-2 all-time against the Sun Devils, but has not defeated them since 2005. The Tigers also battle No. 16 UC-San Diego (10:30 a.m.) and No. 21 Loyola Marymount (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday before wrapping up the weekend against No. 6 Hawaii on Sunday (12 p.m.). The women's water polo unit has defeated UC-San Diego in nine of the past 10 contests and Loyola Marymount twice in the past four seasons. Princeton is 2-5 in program history against Hawaii.
The meeting vs. Arizona State will be streamed on the Sun Devils' website while the other games will have live stats through FOSH.
Stanford is the top team in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Varsity Poll. Cal is second followed by USC, UCLA and Arizona State. Michigan is the top team in the CWPA at No. 9.
Following the Arizona State Challenge, the Tigers will host the Princeton Invitational (Feb. 16-18). Here's an updated schedule for the Invite –
Fri. Feb. 16
China vs. Princeton – 5:30 p.m.
Iona vs. George Washington – 6:45 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17
George Washington vs. Marist – 9:15 a.m.
Harvard vs. Iona – 10:30 a.m.
Princeton vs. NYAC – 11:45 a.m.
Bucknell vs. Marist – 1:00 p.m.
Wagner vs. Harvard – 2:15 p.m.
China vs. Villanova- 3:30 p.m.
Princeton vs. Iona – 4:45 p.m.
Bucknell vs. NYAC – 6:00 p.m.
Wagner vs. China – 7:15 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 18
Wagner vs. George Washington – 8:00 a.m.
Princeton vs. Villanova – 9:15 a.m.
Bucknell vs. Wagner – 10:30 a.m.
Princeton vs. George Washington – 11:45 a.m.
Villanova vs. Harvard – 1:00 p.m.
Bucknell vs. China
Players Mentioned
ATT
/ Women's Water Polo
ATT
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
UTL
/ Women's Water Polo
Princeton Athletics 2023-24 Highlights
Tuesday, June 04
PVC Youth Sports Clinic (Fall 2022)
Wednesday, October 19
Highlights from 2022 Gary Walters ’67 PVC Awards Banquet
Wednesday, June 22
Princeton Athletics 2021-22 Highlights
Monday, June 06