Appeldorn Buzzer Beater Helps No. 9 Men’s Water Polo Complete Day Two Sweep

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Men's Water Polo

September 27, 10AM

at Fordham

Men's Water Polo

September 27, 3PM

at Iona

Men's Water Polo

September 27, 7PM

at LIU

Men's Water Polo

October 4, 11AM

vs MIT

Men's Water Polo

October 4, 5PM

vs Brown

LOS ANGELES, Calif.- The No. 9 Princeton men's water polo team looked to respond to its first loss of the season coming into day two of the Overnght MPSF Invitational. The Tigers were set to take on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags before awaiting their game two opponent.

Princeton dispatched CMS 16-7 and set its sights on a matchup with the No. 8 UC Irvine Anteaters. After trailing throughout the game and leading just once, Gavin Appeldorn lobbed the ball over the UCI keeper at the buzzer to complete the comeback and give Princeton a top 10 victory.

#9 Princeton 16, CMS 7
The Tigers got going quickly with a goal from Otto Stothart less than 30 seconds into the contest. Princeton then went on a 4-0 run before CMS was able to find the back of the cage for its only tally of the quarter.

The pace continued to pick up with four goals from four different Tigers in the second period as Princeton held a 10-3 lead at the half.

CMS could not find a response for Princeton as the Tigers put up six more goals in the second half to get its first victory of the 2025 Overnght MPSF Invitational.

The Tigers had 10 different goal scorers in the contest led by a hat trick from Logan McCarroll.

Goals: McCarroll (3), Finn LeSieur (2) Adam Peocz (2), William Swart (2), Stothart (2) Gavin Appeldorn, Nathan Banos, Taylor Bell, Enrique Nuño, JP Ohl
Saves: Kristóf Kovács (12), Pierre du Plessis (2)

#9 Princeton 16, #8 UC Irvine 15
The second game of the day was a different story for the Tigers. UC Irvine scored twice to kick off the matchup before Taylor Bell converted the powerplay goal for Princeton's first goal.

Then the back and forth started as the two teams traded shots and goals to sit tied at 6-6 after the first frame.

Finn LeSieur scored his second goal of the game to give the Tigers a lead but the Anteaters responded with three straight goals.

Logan McCarroll added his name to the stat sheet with a tally, but UC Irvine again had an answer by scoring twice as the Anteaters held a three-goal advantage after two quarters of play.

After allowing 12 goals in the first half, Princeton keeper Kristóf Kovács and the defense dialed in to hold UC Irvine to just three goals in the second half, including just one in a crucial fourth quarter.
The Tigers were down by as many as four goals but that would not deter them. Otto Stothart scored to spark the comeback effort followed by a goal from Adam Peocz.

As the score stood at 14-13 in favor of the Anteaters, Princeton continued to sway the momentum in its favor.

Taylor Bell scored back to back marks to knot things up at 15-15 and give the freshman a new career high four goals.

Princeton and UC Irvine each looked to break the tie to close out the game but both teams missed shots with less than a minute remaining.

With just seconds left on the clock, Gavin Appeldorn caught the Hail Mary pass from Kovács, lobbing the ball over the UC Irvine keeper at the buzzer for the win.

Goals: Bell (4), LeSieur (2), Tas Palcza (2) Peocz (2), Stothart (2), Appeldorn, Johnston, McCarroll, Ohl
Saves: Kovács (10)

Up Next
Princeton will play the No. 12 Pepperdine Waves on the final day of the Overnght MPSF Invitational. The ninth place game is set for 1:00 PM PT/4:00 PM ET.

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