Vote for the 2004 Men's Water Polo Team as Princeton Team of the Decade

Princeton Team of the Decade Poll

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Princeton University Department of Athletics is attempting to determine which team was the Tigers' "Team of the Decade." This week, the 2004 Eastern Champion men's water polo team is up for consideration in a first round bracket against three other teams on GoPrincetonTigers.com. Votes close at the end of the week.

To vote, go to the men's water polo page and click on the Fan Poll tab in the middle of the page. 

Following first round voting, the eight teams will be selected to  go head to head for the right to be called the Princeton Team of the Decade.

To qualify for the competition, a Princeton team had to win either its league or national championship; in most cases, that was an Ivy League title. For teams that don't compete in the Ivy League, such as women's lightweight rowing or water polo, an Eastern or national championship was enough. Most programs won more than one league champion over the decade, but only one representative could be chosen (and in several cases, picking the top team within one program was difficult enough) for this competition.

Also, teams must have won their titles within that decade. Thus, as you will see in this week's group of teams, the 1999-00 men's indoor track and field team qualified. Teams that won titles in the fall of 2009 did as well, but a team that began competition in the winter of 2009 but don't compete for titles until this February or March will have to wait 10 more years for their own chance at team glory.

A brief synopsis on the 2004 Princeton team follows:

2004 Men's Water Polo
Record: 25-6 (Eastern Champion, NCAA Qualifier)
While the 2009 water polo team hosted the NCAA Championships and won Princeton's first NCAA match in the third-place game against Loyola Marymount, it was a previous squad that nearly turned the sport on its side with a monumental upset.

With high-scoring standouts like John Stover (a team-best 75 goals) and Nicholas Seaver pacing the offense and goaltender Peter Sabbatini leading the team's defense, Princeton had multiple double-digit win streaks during the season. It started the year with a 10-game win streak, but soon lost four of six.

A 10-7 loss to Long Beach State would be the final one in quite some time. Princeton won its next 13 games, including a 10-9 win over Navy to win the Southern title and a tense 3-2 victory over St. Francis to win the Eastern Championship. The second one ended with a sudden-death overtime goal by Seaver that sent the Tigers into their second NCAA Championship ever and first since 1992.

An Eastern team had never won an NCAA semifinal, but Princeton came as close as you could. Playing No. 2 UCLA, Princeton was even at halftime and after three quarters, but trailed by one with less than a minute remaining. A goal by Stover with 45 seconds evened the score, but the Bruins got two goals in overtime to hold off the feisty Tigers 7-5.