PAYNE KILLER: Princeton University men’s water polo player Matt Payne gets ready to fire the ball in recent action. Sophomore star Payne is leading the 9th-ranked Tigers with 40 goals and 37 assists as they have gotten off to a 13-7 start. Princeton is next in action on October 29 when it plays at Iona and St. Francis. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Over its first 20 games, the Princeton University men’s water polo team has shown flashes of brilliance interspersed with some untimely offensive lulls.

“I feel like we know we are close to being a very special team; that first game against UCSB out in California, a top six team, we lost to in sudden death (12-11 in 3OT on September 23) and I think the guys just showed how good we can be,” said Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao, reflecting on his team’s 13-7 start.

“I think right now it is just finding that consistency; unfortunately for some reason we have lost four one-goal games. We have had the lead in the fourth quarter in every one of those games. We were down big to start with, like 4-0, 4-1, and we battle back, tie it and get the lead. Now it is trying to get to sealing the deal.”

After dropping its latest nail-biter, an 8-7 loss to Bucknell last Saturday in the Crimson Invitational in Cambridge, Mass., the Tigers are getting a much needed break with their next game action not coming until October 29 when they play at Iona and St. Francis.

“The break comes at a great time; I think we are emotionally and physically just tired,” said Nicolao.

“Right now we are really struggling, we have one guy out with a concussion. One of our best freshmen got his cheekbone broken two weeks ago and he is having surgery so we are really short on the bench right now. We had the head cold go through our team; we were missing two to three guys and there were days where we couldn’t even run a practice.”

While Princeton may be lacking quantity at times, the team has displayed plenty of quality, led by sophomore star Matt Payne, who leads the Tigers with 40 goals and 37 assists.

“Matt is one of our high energy guys, emotionally and physically,” said Nicolao.

“He gets very excited for games, he is very intense. He has had some really good offensive production games; you look at the Bucknell game, he scored four of our seven goals.”

Sophomore Ryan Wilson (16 goals, 31 assists) and freshman Sean Duncan (38 goals, 3 assists) have been providing good production as well.

“Ryan Wilson is a stellar, heart player; he has to settle a bit on offense,” added Nicolao.

“Our freshman, Sean Duncan, at two meters has had an exceptional year. We don’t have anybody in front of him so sometimes you go through some lumps. He is 18-years-old setting against junior and seniors who are two, three years older than him and holding his own. He is having some on the job training and he has been doing very well.”

The Tigers have been doing well on the defensive end, giving up 8.65 goals a game so far this fall.

“Vojislav (Mitrovic) has been exceptional in the goal; our defense has been good,” said Nicolao.

“Like I told the guys after Bucknell, you hold a team to less than 10 goals, you should win the game. We have done that a couple of times this year where we have held a team to eight or nine goals and end up losing by a goal.”

As the team returns to action, Nicolao is looking for sharper play on offense.

“We know defensively that we can stay in the game,” said Nicolao. “Now it is go out there and put some shots away so that we can take one of these close games, separate, and pull ahead. Maybe that will come with some rest and getting healthy.”

Despite the ups and downs so far, Nicolao believes that his team has a good shot at winning the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) title.

“We have got a couple of big games up in New England in early November against Harvard and Brown and then we host the NWPC championships,” said Nicolao.

“We are excited about the end of the season like always. We are excited about the progress we are making, we have a lot of new faces. The question is can we get healthy and put together a good run at the end.”