Men’s water polo swept in Princeton Invitational

September 12, 2011

Just a week after posting their best start in five seasons, the Colonials were swept in the Princeton Invitational, falling to Harvard, MIT, St. Francis and Brown. The four losses put GW at 3-5 for the season after two weekends of play.

GW posted a slow start against Harvard Saturday, and found itself down 9-3 midway through the third period. Determined not to go down without a fight, the Colonials rallied to knot the score at 11, outscoring the Crimson 7-1 in just over eight minutes before Harvard responded to pull ahead by a single goal. Sophomore Nate Little rocketed a shot past Harvard’s goaltender with just 49 seconds to go, sending the match to overtime. The two teams traded goals at the beginning of the extra period, but Harvard added its final goal with one minute and 36 seconds remaining, and GW failed to capitalize on a man-up opportunity, ultimately falling 13-12.

The Colonials returned to the pool to face MIT later that day, and found themselves with another slow start to play, entering halftime down 3-0. Though GW added two goals after the break, MIT shut the Colonials out over the final eight minutes, adding four goals of their own to deal GW a 7-2 loss. Sophomore Daniel Tyner and junior Guy Helman scored GW’s only goals, supported by junior goalkeeper Cameron Illes’ eight saves and a penalty block, but their efforts weren’t enough for GW to emerge victorious.

Sunday, GW faced two Collegiate Water Polo Association rivals, opening play against defending CWPA champion St. Francis, a program ranked 19th nationally. The Colonials faced a 10-4 deficit at halftime after allowing four fast-break goals and two extra-man strikes during the second quarter. Paced by hat tricks from Little and Tyner, the Colonials pulled within three goals with five minutes and 13 seconds remaining, but St. Francis quickly added four goals to ultimately hand GW a 17-12 defeat. Illes made eight saves during the game, and Tyner added two assists and five ejections drawn along with his three goals.

The Colonials struggled from the start for the fourth game in a row when they faced off against Brown later that day, trailing 5-0 after a quarter. Again, GW battled back, aided by a hat trick from Little. The Colonials pulled within a goal entering the fourth quarter, but Brown scored the next goal to pull ahead from GW for an eventual 8-6 victory. Illes stopped 11 shots over the course of the game, and Tyner, Deasey and freshman Brian Mojica added a goal apiece in the loss.

GW will continue its season at the CWPA North/South Invitational next weekend, kicking off play against Washington & Jefferson Sept. 17 at 3 p.m., and then squaring off against Connecticut College at 10:20 a.m. and Brown at 2:45 p.m Sept. 18.