No. 7 Men’s Water Polo Earns Two Wins To Open Conference Play
NEW YORK- The Tigers continued their weekend road trip with matchups against the Iona Gaels and LIU Sharks. Princeton recorded 42 goals on the day to claim victory in their first two conference games of 2024.
Princeton 15, Iona 7
Gavin Molloy got Princeton on the board quickly followed up by a goal from Nathan Banos to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead after the first quarter.
Iona got on the board to start the second, but the Princeton offensive attack was too much as the Tigers took a 7-3 lead going into the halftime break.
Princeton added eight goals in the second half from seven different scorers including two from Finn LeSieur to wrap up his second hat trick of the season.
The Tigers held off Iona from capitalizing on their possessions with 10 steals in the game, four of which came from Kristóf Kovács. The four steals were the most by a Princeton goalie since 2017.
Goals: LeSieur (3), Enrique Nuño (2), Isaac Rotenberg (2), Nathan Banos, George Caras, Mitrovic, Molloy, JP Ohl, Tas Palcza, Roko Pozaric, Tigran Sennett
Saves: Kovács (11)
Princeton 27, LIU 13
The Tigers kept their foot on the gas and had the goals pouring in for their second game of the afternoon. Gavin Appeldorn scored just 16 seconds into the matchup against LIU. Appeldorn recorded his second of the quarter after a goal from Molloy to put Princeton up 3-0. The Sharks tacked on their first goal to try and keep the Tigers within reach but the offensive onslaught was too much to handle.
Logan McCarroll added two goals to wrap up the first as Princeton took an 8-3 lead.
Princeton recorded seven goals in the second quarter to add to their total.
The Tigers pushed the pace with another seven goals in the third, with Nathan Banos recording two for his second multi-goal game of the season. LIU looked to get things going with five goals in the quarter but the score stood at 21-11.
Princeton took care of business with a dominant fourth quarter with two goals from Luke Hammarskjold, two from Appeldorn, and Daniel Rodriguez's first career goal.
Appeldorn and McCarroll each had four goals in the win and Enrique Nuño recorded his first career hat trick.
The 27 goals are the second most scored in a single game in program history.
Goals: Appeldorn (4), McCarroll (4), Nuño (3), Banos (2), Hammarskjold (2), LeSieur (2) Molloy (2), Pozaric (2), Caras, Ohl, Ádám Peocz, Rodriguez, Rotenberg, Sennett
Saves: Kovács (9)
Up Next
The Tigers will be back at DeNunzio Pool on Oct. 5 for the first time since the Princeton Invitational. They will take on two conference foes in No. 19 Brown and MIT before going up against No. 14 Harvard on Oct. 6.
