No. 5 Men's Water Polo Begins NCAA Journey Friday

Friday, December 1

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:00 PM

Princeton University

#8 UC Irvine

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Princeton Men's Water Polo

Photo by: Nicole Maloney

November 30, 2023 | Men's Water Polo

WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES

PRINCETON – The No. 5 Princeton Men's Water Polo Team begins its NCAA Tournament run with a contest vs. the No. 6 UC Irvine Anteaters on Friday at 5 p.m.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The Tigers collected its third straight Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship with an 8-5 takedown of the Harvard Crimson on Nov. 19.

Princeton became the first Collegiate Water Polo Association team to win its third straight conference title since Navy from 2006-08.

It's the eighth conference crown in program history and ninth NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers will open the NCAA Tournament vs. No. 8 UC Irvine in the 4v5 matchup

The Tigers started fast with the first two goals of the contest from Vladan Mitrovic and Roko Pozaric. Pozaric's tally was the 200th of his career. After a Crimson tally, Pozaric extended the Tigers' advantage before Harvard stayed within one, 3-2, after eight minutes.

Following the Crimson's goal to begin the second quarter, the junior finished off a first half half trick to put the Tigers in front. His fourth tally of the game made it 5-3 Princeton with 2:21 to go in the stanza.

Harvard began the third quarter with a goal, but Logan McCarroll countered with his fifth goal of the tournament. The Crimson closed the gap to one, 6-5, as the fourth quarter began.

Kristóf Kovács closed the door on a Harvard rally by not allowing a goal in the final eight minutes of action. He had six of his 21 stops in the final quarter while Pozaric and Quinones salted the game away with goals.

LEADING MEN
•Pozaric was selected All-NWPC First Team and the conference's Most Valuable Player. He was the conference's Rookie of the Year in 2021 and the Player of the Year in 2022.

•Pozaric is the first player in CWPA history to be named Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year twice.

•The junior had the best season of his career, recording a career high 74 goals and 46 assists along with 38 steals, 27 drawn ejections and a 104-8 sprint record. He scored a goal in every game with 22 multi-goal performances.

Mitrovic was also honored as All-NWPC First Team after setting a new benchmark in tallies with 49, posting 18 helpers and 18 steals as well. He recorded 15 multi-goal outings for Princeton. This is his second all-conference accolade.

•Kristóf Kovács was picked as All-NWPC Second Team after collecting a 13-3 record in goal with a .614 save percentage and 183 saves. He won his first nine starts and has 10 performances with 10 saves or more. Kovacs' 21 saves in the NWPC Title Game were a season-high.

•Pierce Maloney nabbed All-NWPC Second Team behind 30 goals, 40 assists along with 41 steals and 34 drawn ejections. He had helpers in 23 games and a steal in 23 contests for the Tigers.

•This is the third straight season that Dustin Litvak has been named NWPC Coach of the Year. Princeton has 27 games with 13 victories over ranked opponents and was ranked as high No. 4 in the country.

ABOUT THE TEAM
•The Tigers have 14 players with at least 10 goals in Roko Pozaric, George Caras (49), Vladan Mitrovic (49), Yurian Quinones (34), JP Ohl (31), Pierce Maloney (30), Finn LeSieur (28), Logan McCarroll (26), Mason Killion (24), William Swart (20), Tigran Sennett (16), Gavin Molloy (14), Luke Johnston (13) and Matej Sekulic (11).

•Princeton's 446 goals are the most in program history. The team's top three goal scoring seasons are 2023, 2021 (430) and 2022 (403).

•Pozaric's 74 goals are the second most all-time. He's one of only nine players in Princeton history to reach 200 career goals (204).

•JP Ohl leads the team with 62 assists, the second most in program history. He's one shy of 100 for his career.

•The Tigers have two players inside the team's top 10 in career helpers in Yurian Quinones (143, fourth) and Roko Pozaric (126, seventh).

•The Tigers have five players with at least 40 helpers this season in Ohl (62), Pozaric (46), LeSieur (46), Quinones (40), and Maloney (40).

NCAA APPEARANCES
•This is the ninth NCAA Tournament in program history with the previous eight coming in 1992, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2022.

•The 1992 team was a club team that participated in the NCAA Championships, finishing eighth.

•Before 2013, the NCAA Bracket was a four-team bracket.

•Princeton finished fourth in 2004 and won the program's first NCAA contest in 2009, defeating No. 6 Loyola Marymount for third place.

•The Tigers finished third in 2011 as well, beating No. 10 UC San Diego.

•The Orange and Black lost in consecutive NCAA Play-In Games to No. 9 UC San Diego in 2015 and No. 16 George Washington in 2018.

•Head coach Dustin Litvak's crew defeated No. 16 Fordham, 17-8 in 2021 to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals before losing to No. 1 UCLA.

•Princeton followed that with another victory over No. 16 Fordham in 2022, 11-10, in overtime before a 11-8 loss to No. 1 USC.

•It marked the first time Princeton had reached the NCAA Quarterfinals in the expanded format in back-to-back years.