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No. 19 Princeton Sinks No. 10 Navy 7-3 in CWPA Southern Division Action
PRINCETON, N.J. --
Senior Mark Zalewski scored three goals and junior
goalkeeper Mike Merlone made 12 saves to lead the
19th-ranked Princeton men's water polo team to a 7-3 win over
10th-ranked Navy on Saturday night at DeNunzio Pool.
Princeton never trailed in the win, breaking a 1-1 tie late in the
second quarter and pulling away with three unanswered goals in the
third quarter. Senior Douglas Wigley scored the
only goal of the opening quarter and after Navy's Conor
Handley evened the score at 1-1 with four minutes left in
the second quarter, Wigley scored again with 1:18 left in the half
to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Freshman Billy Tifft scored with 31 seconds left
in the half to make the score 3-1, before Navy's Johnny
Meiners cut the deficit to one with 8.7 seconds left in
the half.
Princeton pulled ahead with three goals from Zalewski to begin the
third quarter. His first came three minutes into the period to make
it 4-2 and his second, one minute later off a pass from sophomore
Mike Helou, made it 5-2 Tigers. Navy scored on an
ejection to cut the lead to 5-3, but Zalewski's third of the period
regained the three-goal margin for Princeton.
While Zalewski and the offense worked to build the lead, Merlone
and the Tiger defense came up with many key stops. Merlone blocked
12 shots and seven Tigers recorded steals including a pair from
junior Matt Hale, who also completed the scoring
in the fourth quarter.
The teams have now split two of at least three meetings this
season.
Princeton 1-2-3-1
-- 7
Navy 0-2-1-0 -- 3
Release courtesy Princeotn Athletic Communications
