Princeton Prepped For West Coast Trip, No. 13 in Varsity Poll

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Princeton Tigers have settled in the No. 13 position in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Varsity Poll, the organization announced today.

The top four in the Varsity Poll remained the same with USC, Stanford, UCLA and California. Princeton is the top East Coast school in front of No. 14 Brown and No. 15 Harvard.

Princeton last played last Friday (Oct. 19) at Iona. The Tigers allowed just one goal over the final 12:59 of game action and rallied for an 11-8 victory over the Gaels. Five different players posted multi-goal outings highlighted by Keller Maloney's six-point outing.

Head coach Dustin Litvak's squad currently sits fourth in the Northeast Water Polo Conference at 4-4. Harvard sits at the top of the standings at 5-1, followed by St. Francis-Brooklyn (4-1) and Brown (4-2). MIT (1-5) and Iona (0-5) trail Princeton.

The Tigers make their annual West Coast Trip this weekend. Princeton will take on No. 10 UC-San Diego (12 p.m. PST, 3 p.m. EST) and Whittier (7 p.m. PST, 10 p.m. EST) on Saturday (Oct. 27). The next day (Oct. 28), the Tigers battle No. 20 Loyola Marymount (10 a.m. PST, 1 p.m. EST) and No. 7 Pepperdine (4 p.m. PST, 7 p.m. EST). The California trip finishes on Wednesday (Oct. 31) against No. 19 Pomona-Pitzer (7 p.m. PST, 10 p.m. EST).

Last season, Princeton recorded an impressive 15-14 victory over UC-San Diego, just the fourth victory against the program all-time (4-7). The Tigers have never lost to Whitter in three meetings. The Tigers haven't faced off against Loyola Marymount since 2014, a 9-7 victory in California. The squad has only taken on Pepperdine once, back in 2006. In 2017, Princeton earned a hard fought 12-11 overtime decision over Pomona-Pitzer to improve to 3-0 all-time.

Princeton has had a balanced offensive attack this season with eight players recording at least 14 goals this season. One of the most prolific goal-scorers in program history, Matt Payne has 47 in 2018 to pace the group. He is on his way to three straight 50+ goal seasons and has the sixth most ever with 212.

Alec Mendelsohn (26), Ryan Wilson (25) and Keller Maloney (21) each have at least 20+ goals with Wilson also posting a team-high 34 assists. The senior has the most helpers in Princeton history (206). Wilson and Maloney are the only two players with double figures in goals, assists, steals, and drawn ejections. Ryan Melosini and Billy Motherway have split time at goalie, combining to secure a .519 save percentage.

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