Men's Water Polo to Open NCAA Championships Friday at Stanford vs. UCLA

Friday, December 5

Stanford, Calif.

7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT

Princeton University

UCLA

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Photo by: Brian Foley

Men's Water Polo to Open NCAA Championships Friday at Stanford vs. UCLA

December 01, 2025 | Men's Water Polo

Following a fifth consecutive NWPC championship, the Princeton men's water polo team is headed to the NCAA Championships, held this year at Stanford where they'll open with the No. 2 seed, UCLA, in a Friday 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT quarterfinal.

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NCAA History: Princeton is in the NCAAs for the 11th time and fifth straight year. Since the field expanded to its current eight-team format in 2023, Princeton's best finish was that year, as the Tigers were the No. 4 seed and beat UC Irvine 12-7 in the quarters before a 17-13 loss to UCLA in the semis. Princeton has also been in the semis in 2004, 2009 and 2011, when the event was a four-team tournament.

History vs. UCLA: Princeton has faced the Bruins 21 times, and the Bruins have won all 21, most recently in a regular-season meeting on Oct. 11 in the Bruins' home pool where UCLA won 23-10. Friday's game will be the teams' fourth in the NCAAs, as UCLA won 7-5 in the 2004 semis, 12-6 in the 2021 quarters, and 17-13 in the 2023 semis.

Wins: At 23-9, Princeton is tied for the sixth-winningest season in program history. It's the ninth time Princeton has won at least 23 games and the fifth such year in a row. Just two seasons ago, Princeton finished a program-record 28-6, besting a record set the year before with a 27-6 finish in 2022.

Goals: Princeton's 438 goals this season are the third-most in program history, with the top five totals coming in the last five seasons with a program-record 514 last year, 471 in 2023, 438 this year, 430 in 2021, and 403 in 2022 for what are the program's five 400-goal seasons.

Individual records: JP Ohl surpassed Princeton's career assist record this year, entering the NCAAs with 245 helpers, 25 more than previous record holder Ryan Wilson, who finished with 220 in 2018. Ohl's 81 assists this season are just five short of the record of 86 that Wilson set in 2017. Kristóf Kovács moved into second place on Princeton's career saves list this year and has 756 headed into the NCAAs. The junior will have one more year to chip away at the record of 1,192, set by Vojislav Mitrovic in 2017.

The coach: At 162 wins entering the NCAAs, Dustin Litvak, in his seventh competitive season with the team (eighth overall, including 2020), is in second place on Princeton's career wins list, trailing only longtime skipper Luis Nicolao, who won 402 games in the 20 seasons precedin Litvak's tenure. Litvak came to Princeton from UCLA, where he was an assistant coach with the men's team from 2013-15, helping the team to the 2014 national title, before assisting with the women's team from 2015-17. Assistant coach Bella Baia is a UCLA alumna, helping the women's team to the 2021 NCAA finals before earning both a bachelor's (2022) and a master's (2023) in Westwood.

On offense: Princeton has four 50-goal scorers this season in Taylor Bell (58), Logan McCarroll (56), Adam Peocz (55) and Enrique Nuno (54), with Finn LeSieur (49) just one away from joining that group. The only other time Princeton had five 50-goal scorers in a season was 2017, with four, and Princeton has never had five 50-goal scorers in a season.

2025 Honors:
Gavin Appeldorn
• First-team All-NWPC

Taylor Bell
• NWPC Rookie of the Year
• Second-team All-NWPC
• NWPC Rookie of the Week (Sept. 8, Sept. 22, Oct. 13, Oct. 20, Nov. 3)

Luke Johnston
• Honorable mention All-NWPC Tournament

Finn LeSieur
• Second-team All-NWPC Tournament
• NWPC Player of the Week (Sept. 8)

Dustin Litvak
• NWPC Tournament Coach of the Tournament

Kristóf Kovács
• Cutino Award watch list
• First-team All-NWPC
• First-team All-NWPC Tournament
• NWPC Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 8, Sept. 15, Sept. 22, Sept. 29, Nov. 3, Nov. 10, Nov. 24)

Logan McCarroll
• First-team All-NWPC
• NWPC Tournament MVP
• First-team All-NWPC Tournament
• NWPC Player of the Week (Nov. 24)

Enrique Nuño
• First-team All-NWPC Tournament

JP Ohl
• Honorable mention All-NWPC
• Second-team All-NWPC Tournament
• NWPC Player of the Week (Sept. 15, Sept. 29)

Adam Peocz
• Second-team All-NWPC
• NWPC Player of the Week (Oct. 20)

Otto Stothart
• NWPC Rookie of the Week (Sept. 15, Sept. 29, Nov. 10)