Top-Seeded Men’s Water Polo Heads To NWPC Tournament

Saturday, November 22

Providence, R.I.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

Winner of MIT vs. Iona

Men's Water Polo Team Celebration

Photo by: Kathy Swart

Top-Seeded Men’s Water Polo Heads To NWPC Tournament

November 20, 2025 | Men's Water Polo

PRINCETON, N.J.- The Princeton men's water polo team is off to Providence for the NWPC Tournament. The Tigers claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament after the spot came down to goal differential against Harvard for the second straight season.

Princeton received a first round bye and will face the winner of the Iona Gaels and MIT Engineers matchup in the semifinals.

The Tigers won the conference tournament for the fourth straight season in 2024 in their home pool.

Cutino Award Watch List
Kristóf Kovács was named to the Cutino Award Watch List for the second straight season. The junior goalkeeper was named the NWPC Defensive Player of the Week six times throughout the year. Kovács owns a .514 save percentage with 241 stops in the cage. He has added 21 assists, 18 steals and one goal to the stat sheet to go with an 18-5 record.

Rookie Sensation
Taylor Bell hit the ground running when he arrived at DeNunzio Pool. The freshman out of Tustin, Calif. was named the 2025 NWPC Rookie of the Year following a fantastic regular season campaign.

Bell leads the Tigers in goals heading into the postseason with 56. He also leads in steals with 27 and has tacked on 21 assists and 21 sprint wins. Bell was named the conference Rookie of the Week five times, leading all eligible players in the group.

All-NWPC
Along with Bell collecting major award honors, Princeton had six players named to all-conference teams.

Kovács, Gavin Appeldorn and Logan McCarroll were named to the All-NWPC First Team. The All-NWPC Second Team highlighted Bell and Ádám Peocz while JP Ohl received All-NWPC Honorable Mention recognition.

400 And Counting
The 2025 squad has racked up an impressive 410 goals this year. This marks the fifth consecutive season that Princeton has scored at least 400 goals and is the fourth most in program history.

The Tigers have 11 players on the roster that have scored 20 or more goals thus far: Bell (56), Peocz (55), McCarroll (49), Enrique Nuño (48), Finn LeSieur (43), Appeldorn (39), Otto Stothart (39), JP Ohl (25), Luke Johnston (24), Tas Palcza (22) and William Swart (22).

Helping Hand
JP Ohl broke the program's career assist record on Oct. 4 in the win over the Brown Bears. The senior utility player has 76 assists on the year and 240 in his time with the Tigers. Ohl set a new single game mark with eight helpers against LIU earlier this season. He is also now just 11 away from breaking the single season record that is currently held by Ryan Wilson '17.

Weekly Winners
The Tigers picked up 18 weekly awards in the 2025 season: four Players of the Week, six Defensive Players of the Week, and eight Rookies of the Week.

Regular Season Recap
Princeton went 21-9 on the year with a 9-1 NWPC record. The Tigers won nine contests against ranked opponents including two top-10 victories against then-ranked No. 8 UC Irvine and No. 10 Long Beach State.