PRINCETON, N.J. – In its biggest test of the season so far, the No. 7 Pacific men's water polo program prevailed with victories of 16-12 against No. 17 Navy and 12-11 at No. 6 Princeton on Sunday at DeNunzio Pool.
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The Tigers (6-0) trailed Princeton (7-1) 11-10 when senior
Jeremie Cote netted the equalizer at the 2:39 mark, which ended a 5-0 run for Princeton. The game-winner was scored by freshman
Ori Buzaglo with 1:35 left.
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"That was a fantastic game, great atmosphere and really got a chance to test ourselves and play through some adversity. I'm proud of the composure we had and the adaptions we've made from the previous weekend," said head coach
James Graham. "This was a great team win.
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The match featured momentum swings for both sides. The first big one came for Pacific when it erased a 4-3 deficit to go up 8-4 after a score by senior
Reuel D'Souza with 35 seconds left in the second quarter. Princeton stormed back to cut it to 10-8 at the end of the third before taking the lead late in the fourth.
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Cote and senior
Mihailo Vukazic tallied three goals apiece to lead the team. Vukazic has registered a team-high 19 goals on the year.
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In the win over Navy (6-2), the Tigers used a big 6-0 second quarter to race out to a 12-3 halftime lead. Navy etched goals in the second half when the result was seemingly already decided. Graduate
Matthew Hosmer led Pacific's offense with four goals and is up to 15 on the season.
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Graduate goalkeeper
Bae Fountain got the start and played the whole way in both games. Pacific improved to 9-4 all-time against Navy and 7-3 all-time against Princeton.
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Pacific will look to keep rolling Saturday when it travels to LMU for a pair of matches. The Tigers will face LMU at 9 a.m., followed by a 1:30 p.m. neutral site match against UC Irvine.
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Stay Social
For all the latest on Pacific men's water polo, be sure to follow the team on X (
@UOPWaterPoloU), Instagram (
@pacificwaterpolo) and "like" the team's official Facebook page (
Pacific Men's Water Polo).
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#PacificProud
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