Roko Pozaric

Photo by: Nicole Maloney

Height:
6-4
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Zagreb, Croatia
High School:
Gimnazija Titusa Brezovackog

Awards:
Cutino Award Finalist (2023)
ACWPC First Team All-America (2023)
ACWPC Third Team All-America (2021)
ACWPC Second Team All-America (2022, 2024)
NCAA Second Team All-Tournament (2023)
NWPC Player of the Year (2022, 2023, 2024)
NWPC Rookie of the Year (2021)
First-Team All-NWPC (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
NWPC Most Valuable Player of the Tournament (2023)
NWPC First-Team All-Tournament (2023, 2024)
NWPC Rookie of the Tournament (2021)
NWPC Player of the Week (Sept. 6, 2021, Sept. 13, 2021, Nov. 29, 2021, Sept. 12, 2022, Oct. 3, 2022, Oct. 17, 2022, Nov. 28, 2022, Sept. 18, 2023, Sept. 25, 2023, Oct. 2, 2023, Nov. 20, 2023, Sept. 9, 2024, Sept. 23, 2024, Oct. 21, 2024)
NWPC Rookie of the Week (Sept. 6, 2021, Sept. 13, 2021, Sept. 20, 2021, Sept. 27, 2021, Nov. 8, 2021, Nov. 22, 2021, Nov. 29, 2021)
ACWPC All-Academic Team (2024)

2024: Started every game for Princeton and paced the Tigers with 75 goals, 37 steals and 90 sprint wins and added 45 helpers, 23 drawn ejections and seven blocks…Scored four times in opener versus Biola (Sept. 7)...Back-to-back hat tricks against Occidental and George Washington (Sept. 7-8)...Had four tallies, three steals and three blocks against No. 1 UCLA at MPSF Invite (Sept. 20)...Scored three times and had three steals, two helpers and six sprint wins against No. 14/16 Harvard (Oct. 6) …Broke program’s all-time goals record with a hat trick in the win over No. 7/9 Pepperdine and added three assists, three drawn ejections and two steals (Oct. 15)...Racked up four goals in program’s first ever win over No. 8/9 Cal (Oct. 20)...Notched four goals, four assists, two steals and a drawn ejection in victory against Iona (Nov. 2)...Hat trick in regular season finale over No. 19 Brown (Nov. 10)…Threw four in the back of the cage in NWPC Championship against No. 18 Brown (Nov. 24)…Scored twice with three helpers and two steals in NCAA Quarterfinal against No. 4 Stanford (Dec. 6)

2023: Started every game for the Tigers, collecting 76 goals, 47 assists, 41 steals, 28 drawn ejections and a 111-9 sprint record ... Hat trick and two assists to start the season vs. LIU (Sept. 2) … Contributed a hat trick, two assists, two steals and two drawn ejections vs. No. 16 Cal Baptist (Sept. 8) … Added five tallies and three steals vs. No. 19 Santa Clara (Sept. 9) … Produced three straight hat tricks (Sept. 16-22) including six tallies vs. Cal Baptist (Sept. 22) … Put up three consecutive games with three helpers each (Sept. 24-30) … Threw five in the back of the cage vs. Brown (Oct. 1) … Hat trick and four steals at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 17) … Had four helpers vs. Fresno Pacific (Oct. 21) … Contributed six points at No. 11 Harvard (Oct. 29) … Hat trick vs. Iona in the NWPC Semifinals (Nov. 18) … Impressive outing with five goals at No. 11 Harvard in the NWPC Championship game (Nov. 19).

2022: Led the Tigers with 62 goals, 51 steals and 93 sprint wins, adding 39 helpers and 34 drawn ejections … Combined for seven goals vs. George Washington and Navy (Sept. 3) … Dropped in four tallies, two steals and two drawn ejections vs. Bucknell (Sept. 10) … Produced six points vs. No. 17 Fordham (Sept. 11) … Hat trick vs. No. 2 UCLA (Sept. 17) … Snagged four goals, two assists, two steals and two drawn ejections vs. No. 19 Brown (Oct. 1) … Registered four goals, two helpers and five swipes at No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 16) … Hat trick vs. Fresno Pacific (Oct. 22) … Hat trick including the game-winning goal vs. No. 3 Stanford (Oct. 23), the program’s first ever win over the Cardinal … Hat trick and four steals at No. 15 Harvard (Nov. 6) … Four steals vs. No. 1 USC in the NCAA Quarterfinals (Dec. 1).

2021: Led the team with 68 goals, 41 assists, 41 steals and 105 sprint wins … Began career with three hat tricks in four games (Sept. 4-5) … NWPC Player and Rookie of the Week (Sept. 6) … Posted four goals and four assists vs. No. 14 California Baptist (Sept. 10) … Dropped in six tallies vs. No. 16 Bucknell (Sept. 12) … NWPC Player and Rookie of the Year (Sept. 13) … Hat trick at No. 17 LMU (Sept. 18) … NWPC Rookie of the Week (Sept. 20) … Added five straight games with multiple goals (Sept. 19-Oct. 2) … NWPC Rooke of the Week (Sept. 27) … Hat trick at SFC Brooklyn (Oct. 9) … Contributed four tallies vs. No. 19 Air Force (Oct. 23) … Secured three consecutive games with at least two goals (Nov. 6-20) … NWPC Rookie of the Week (Nov. 8) … Recorded four goals vs. No. 16 Fordham in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (Nov. 27).

Before Princeton:
HAVK Mladost: Squad won the Senior Croatian Cup in back-to-back years and was second the year prior … Part of the team that finished second at the Dubrovnik Junior Croatian Championship three times … Participated in the OMV and Comen Cups … Unit won the Zagreb Croatian Cup and was second at the Mali Medo, Zagreb International Tournament, Zadar Croatian Cup (twice) … U15 team was second at the Herceg Novi and Beograd tournaments … Also lettered in swimming, winning the 50m free race at the World Championships in Brazil.

Personal: Son of Becky Martinovic-Pozaric and Kresimir Pozaric … Grandmother, Marija Branka Pozaric, played volleyball in the First Yugoslavian League from 1955-65 … Grandfather Zlatko played football in the Second Yugoslavian League from 1955-65

Why I chose Princeton:
Princeton is an institution that will give me an education and allow me to play water polo at a very high level.

Career Stats:

Season	GP	Goals	Shots	Assists	Steals	Sprints (W-L)	Ej. Drawn	Ejections	Blocks
2021		68	151	41	41	105-9	39	20	5
2022		62	137	39	51	93-10	34	9	7
2023	34	76	144	47	41	111-9	28	13	12
2024	32	75	136	45	37	90-17	23	13	7
Career		281	568	172	170	399-45	124	55	31

Career Highs
Goals - 6, 2x - MR - vs. No. 14 Cal Baptist (9/22/23)
Assists - 4, 4x - MR - vs Iona (11/2/24)
Steals - 5, at No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (10/16/22)
Ej. Drawn - 4, vs. No. 3 Stanford (9/11/21)
Blocks - 3, at No. 1 UCLA (9/20/24)