Nov. 9, 2008
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The No. 14-ranked Navy water polo team and No. 16 Princeton waged yet another classic battle in Sunday's CWPA Southern Division Championship game, with Princeton's Eric Vreeland scoring the game-winner with just 1:29 to play to give the Tigers a 12-11 victory in the tournament finals. The loss drops Navy's overall record to 17-9, and dropped the Midshipmen to the third overall seed for the CWPA Eastern Championship on Nov. 21-23 in Annapolis.
The loss snapped Navy's 12-match Southern Tournament win streak, dating back to the 2004 season, and dropped Navy's record in the Southern Tournament to a sparkling 48-5 in 16 appearances. Navy has won 11 tournament titles, while Princeton is the only team to beat the Mids in the tournament's history.
"It was another great game between Princeton and Navy," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "Just a very typical rivalry game. Both teams should be very proud of their efforts and the game was played at a high level. They just made one more play than we did. We just had too many defensive breakdowns in the end. We weren't tough enough on defense when it counted. You have to give credit to Princeton as well. They really came to play today."
Princeton led 4-3 after one quarter, but Navy tied the game at seven at halftime. Neither team led by more than one goal, until the fourth quarter, when Navy scored the first two goals of the frame for the contest's first two-goal advantage at 11-9.
It would be the last time Navy would lead, as the Tigers got a pair of goals from Annapolis native, Brendan Colgan, before Vreeland's tally with 1:29 to play proved to the be game-winner.
Brett Rajchel recorded nine saves in goal for the Midshipmen. Chuck Baker, Michael Mulvey, Kevin Bell and Johnny Meiners scored a pair of goals each for Navy. Marek Malik, Alex Kofsky and Kyle Wertz scored once each.
Navy will be the third seed in the CWPA Eastern Championship on Nov. 21-23. Princeton will be the top seed, St. Francis (N.Y.) will be the second seed and Brown will be the fourth seed. Navy will play Iona on Friday, Nov. 21, at 3:30 pm, in Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.
# GO NAVY #
