Men’s Water Polo: Tigers Win Eastern Crown, NCAA Bid

Princeton, the top men’s water polo team outside of California for much of the fall, backed up its ranking with wins over three of its top Eastern rivals at the College Water Polo Association Championships Nov. 20–22, earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2011.

After defeating Bucknell and host Harvard, the Tigers played a rematch with Johns Hopkins, the runner-up to Princeton at the CWPA Southern Tournament two weeks earlier. Led by center Thomas Nelson ’16, who had four goals, Princeton edged the Blue Jays 7–6. Goalie Vojislav Mitrovic ’18 made 14 saves in the win.

The Tigers fell 12–7 to the University of California-San Diego in the play-in round of the six-team NCAA Tournament Dec. 3. Mitrovic added eight saves in the loss, becoming the first goalie in team history to make more than 300 saves in a season.