In an entertaining night of Water Polo at the McCann Natatorium, Marist lost its regular-season finale to Princeton 11-9. After a bad start to the game, Marist rebounded to make the contest a close one but failed to get over the hump.
The Tigers won the two team’s first matchup of the season in Princeton 14-9 in the fourth game of the season, handing Marist its first loss.
This game came off an emotional high for the 24-5 Red Foxes, as last weekend saw them secure an undefeated, regular-season conference title in Lexington, Virginia. There, they handily beat both La Salle and LIU, with 9-3 and 18-8 victories.
Head coach Chris Vidale’s team was not expected to achieve this feat this season. They were comfortably picked to finish behind Wagner, the defending champion. Wagner received eight first-place votes compared to only one for Marist. Marist will now get the opportunity to host the MAAC championship next weekend.
Princeton has been a formidable foe for Marist over the years. Not only did they defeat the Red Foxes earlier this year, but they have also won all 13 matchups between the two schools. They finish their season 22-5 and 5-1 in conference, and will have to scoreboard watch this weekend to see where they place in the CWPA. If Brown beats Harvard, they will finish first. If Harvard wins, they will take second.
Marist got off to a poor start in the first half and fell behind early. They quickly let up a goal on Princeton’s first possession. The Red Foxes responded quickly thanks to a goal from junior attacker Kendell De Beer, tying the game at one.
De Beer has been a huge part of the Red Foxes’ success this season. She leads the team in goals with 43, adding four more today. She also scored eight goals last weekend in the title-clinching games.
“She’s a baller, I recruited her super early in the process, and it’s paid off 100%… she’s a captain, she’s been doing great, and if she can continue down this road, but I think going into [the conference tournament] she should be athlete of the year, and if she’s not, somebody’s not f—— doing their job,” said Vidale.
Still, the first half did not go as planned for Marist. Princeton added three more goals to take a 4-2 lead at the end of the quarter.
This play continued in the second quarter. Marist not only struggled to score, mustering only one goal, but they also allowed three more, bringing the total amount of Princeton goals to seven. Allowing so many points in a half was out of character for Marist and senior goaltender Ines Sancez, who allowed an average of only 8.99 in conference play.
Trailing 7-3, Marist faced an uphill battle to get back into the game. De Beer scored an early goal to cut the lead, and Sanchez responded with a save. De Beer added one more goal in the quarter to make the game 8-6. Towards the end of the quarter, freshman utility Madilyn Ekstrom scored another Marist goal. They only trailed 9-8 at the end of the quarter.
“I mean, there were a couple of bad words coming out of my mouth, but really it was just a matter of like we weren’t playing up to the level that we’re used to and we were just getting pushed around and being soft, for lack of a better term. So we just really needed to toughen up and show them what they’re capable of,” said Vidal on the comeback.
Marist was not done making a push. Quickly into the fourth, junior utility Anita Radaelli scored to tie the game at nine. After that, however, Marist’s offense could not find the back of the net and was held scoreless the rest of the way. Princeton scored right after the Radaelli goal to go up 10-9. They added another goal with a minute left to put the game out of reach.
Marist gets the week off to prepare for the MAAC championship. They will host the event, and are set to play La Salle on April 11th.
Edited by Max Rosen
Graphic by Xavier Angel
Picture from Marist Athletics
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