On Thursday, Feb. 19, Villanova’s women’s water polo team fell to No.12 Princeton at home, 14-9. Villanova attempted to ride the momentum from last week, but the undefeated Tigers were hot and extended their dominance away from home.
Villanova got up early, 2-1, at the end of the first. Goals from sophomores Sara Withers and Layla Canales helped the team.
“I was very happy with our first half defense,” head coach Michael Gordon said. “We game planned well for them. I thought we came out strong in the first quarter.”
It wasn’t until the end of the first quarter when sophomore Canales suffered an injury and was removed from the game that things started to slip.
“A few key players were out for us today,” Gordon said. “Layla went down in the first.”
In the second quarter, sophomore Riley Hull quickly scored another to extend the lead to 3-1. However, Princeton went on a 3-0 tear to take a quick 4-3 lead back.
“A couple of mistakes on our offense lead to opportunities for their offense,” Gordon said.
Villanova struggled to take advantage of opportunities until senior Ella Mattocks scored at the end of the half to tie the game at four.
The third quarter was weak for Villanova, as it saw six Princeton goals reach the net and struggled to develop a rhythm.
“We were pressing them deep into shot clocks,” Gordon said. “We made a few of them [shots] on short clocks, but not enough.”
At the end of the third, Hull and senior Anna Painter scored to cut the lead to 10-6.
Coach Gordon had mentioned previously that passing was a necessity in the team game.
“The passes we missed in the third quarter hurt us,” Gordon said. “We tried to take a couple more risks on the counterattacks”.
The fourth quarter saw another goal from Painter, followed by two more from Hull. Despite a strong offensive effort, it was too late to match Princeton’s four-goal quarter as the game ended with the Wildcats falling, 14-9.
Senior goalkeeper Gracin Kerry played the whole game and saved 5-of-18 attempts and added an assist and a steal.
Although the team lost, it was a good challenge to play a top-15 team in the country.
“It showed us that we can hang with good teams,” Gordon said. “We can beat them, we just need to put together good fourth quarters and better defenses. We can compete when we’re playing Villanova water polo with our own style.”
Villanova will travel to Cambridge, MA next weekend to take on Harvard and the University of California, Merced on Saturday, Feb. 28. The ‘Cats will face Harvard at 10 a.m. and California, Merced at 1 p.m.
