No. 6 Men’s Water Polo To Host NWPC Tournament
PRINCETON, N.J.- The Princeton men's water polo team clinched the No. 1 seed with three conference wins to close out the regular season. The top spot in the tournament came down to goal differential as Princeton and Harvard split their meetings 1-1. The Tigers had a three-goal advantage to secure the first round bye.
The Tigers' first opponent will be the winner of game one which features the Iona Gaels and MIT Engineers.
Princeton is the three-time defending champion of the NWPC title and reached the NCAA Semifinals last season.
Cutino Award Watch List
Roko Pozaric is Princeton's all-time leading goal scorer with 273. He leads the Tigers this season with 67 and is second on the team in assists with 39. The senior utility also owns a 80-15 sprint record this season.
Kristóf Kovács earned over half of the NWPC Defensive Player of the Week honors this season and has made 282 saves in the cage. The keeper owns a .502 save percentage and has recorded 23 assists and 32 steals, the second most both on the team and by a keeper since 2017. Kovács has held opponents to single-digit scoring in 12 games this season.
Pozaric and Kovács were both named to the Cutino Award Watch List earlier this season.
1-2 Punch
Gavin Appeldorn and Tas Palcza have been key members of the Princeton offense in their first collegiate seasons. Appeldorn and Palcza have each been named the NWPC Rookie of the Week twice.
Appeldorn, out of Newport Harbor High School, has tallied 47 goals, 31 steals and leads the team in drawn exclusions with 55. Palcza, a JSerra alum, has recorded 35 goals and is tied for third on the team in blocks with seven.
Going For the Goals
Princeton has found the back of the cage 467 times this season, just four shy of the program record of 471 the team scored last season. The Tigers have 10 players on the roster with 20 or more goals: Pozaric (67), Appeldorn (47), Mitrovic (40), Finn LeSieur (38), Palcza (35), Logan McCarroll (32), George Caras (29), Adam Peocz (23), Enrique Nuño (22) and Nathan Banos (20).
Block Party
The field block has been a crucial component of the Tiger defense. The team has combined for 89 blocks this season with Vladan Mitrovic leading in the category.
Weekly Winners
The Tigers have received a total of 15 NWPC weekly awards: four Players of the Week, six Defensive Players of the Week, and five Rookies of the Week.
The Regular Season
Princeton defeated 10 ranked opponents this season. The Tigers defeated Cal for the first time in program history to avenge an earlier loss at the MPSF Overnght Invitational. The team also held a 9-1 conference record and went 21-8 overall.
