No. 12 Princeton Starts West Coast Trip with Two Top-10 Opponents

Monday, October 18

Stockton, Calif.

10:00 PM (7:00 PM PT)

Princeton University

#7 Pacific

Billy Motherway

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

No. 12 Princeton Starts West Coast Trip with Two Top-10 Opponents

October 15, 2021 | Men's Water Polo

PRINCETON, N.J. – The No. 12 Princeton Tigers begin their second West Coast trip with two top-10 opponents in No. 7 Pacific and No. 2 California.

Princeton makes the trip to Stockton, Calif., to take on No. 7 Pacific on Monday at 10 p.m. (7 p.m. PT). The Tigers battle the No. 2 California Bears on Wednesday at 9 p.m. (6 p.m. PT). Later in the week, head coach Dustin Litvak's squad participates in the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament hosted by Santa Clara and San Jose State (Oct. 22-24).

Litvak's unit earned a sweep in its Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) New York trip last Saturday, defeating Iona, 12-6, and St. Francis Brooklyn, 16-12. Antonio Knez stopped 13 shots in the win over SFC Brooklyn, earning NWPC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Princeton is 16-3 overall and 4-1 in the NWPC, tied with Harvard for first place in the conference. The last time the Tigers were in California, they secured victories over No. 17 Loyola Marymount, No. 10 Pepperdine, and No. 13 UC Irvine.

The Tigers have produced a balanced offensive attack this season with nine players scoring at least 10 goals and one more with nine tallies. Roko Pozaric leads the squad in goals (46), assists (27), steals (23) while also losing just one sprint in 66 attempts. Keller Maloney has secured 37 tallies along with 22 helpers as well. Mason Killion (22), Wyatt Benson (21), George Caras (19), Yurian Quinones (18), Vladan Mitrovic (17), Mitchell Cooper (17) and Joan Coloma (10) are the other players that have added outstanding offensive numbers for Princeton.

In goal, Knez and Billy Motherway have combined for a .533 save percentage and 195 saves. Knez is 9-3 while adding 10 steals, nine assists and a goal. Motherway hasn't lost in seven starts.