MAKING A SPLASH: Princeton University men’s water polo player Roko Pozaric fires the ball last Saturday as Princeton hosted Fordham in an NCAA tournament opening round contest. Sophomore star Pozaric tallied the winning goal in the second overtime as Princeton prevailed 11-10. The Tigers, now 27-5, will face third-ranked Southern California (18-6) in the next round of the NCAA tournament on December 1 in Berkeley, Calif. The victor of that matchup will face UCLA in a semifinal contest on December 3 at Berkeley. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

Roko Pozaric has scored a few big goals in his young water polo career, but his latest one came in a big moment on a huge stage.

The Princeton University men’s water polo sophomore star scored the game-winner to help the Tigers edge then-No. 3 Stanford 11-10 in a regular season contest on October 23. Pozaric had a big goal in his native Croatia’s junior national championships a year before he came to Princeton. And Saturday, he scored the game-winner with three seconds left in the second overtime to lift Princeton to an 11-10 win over Fordham in the NCAA tournament opener at DeNunzio Pool.

“This,” said Pozaric, “is definitely the most important game so far that I scored the deciding goal in.”

The victory sends Princeton up against third-ranked Southern California (18-6) in the next round of the NCAA tournament on December 1 at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif. The Tigers are 27-5 and carry confidence into the matchup even though they will be underdogs to everyone outside of the program’s minds. The victor of that matchup will face UCLA in a semifinal contest on December 3 at the Spieker pool.

“A few years ago it was unrealistic for any East Coast team to beat any West Coast team,” said Pozaric, a 6’3 native of Zagreb, Croatia. “Now things have changed. Last year, we beat some of them, Santa Clara and Pepperdine and Cal Baptist and Irvine. This year we took a step forward. We beat Santa Barbara and Stanford, which was ranked No. 3 at the time. Winning a national championship is definitely possible.”

Pozaric’s arrival certainly has helped. He was named Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Rookie of the Year in 2021 after leading Princeton with 68 goals, 41 assists, 41 steals, and 105 sprint wins. This year, he was named NWPC Player of the Year and leads the team with 61 goals, 47 steals, and 91 sprint wins and sits fourth with 37 assists, but his biggest aspirations in his second collegiate season were for the team.

“I like raising the team goals,” said Pozaric. “From last season, I think we’ve come pretty far. Our primary goal last season was to win our conference, whereas this season we really believe that we can compete for a national championship. Changing team goals was the biggest difference from last year.”

Pozaric is a year more comfortable with his Princeton teammates. He made a significant move from Croatia to the Tigers last year.

“Guys on the team were definitely great and helped me with transitioning to the U.S.,” said Pozaric. “It was probably easier than I expected it to be. Just having a team, a group of guys supporting you and wanting to help you with everything, like selecting courses, and practices and everything, and also having one Croatian and two Serbian players, speaking your own language — Croatian and Serbian are similar — so speaking your home language helps a lot to not feel as homesick.”

Pozaric started swimming when he was young, but after a few years of it he started looking for more. While he has maintained his sprint speed — he was fourth in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2019 World School Swimming Championships in Brazil — he found everything he wanted in water polo. He showed talent from the beginning in fifth grade.

“When I started out, I was playing pretty well,” said Pozaric. “I was part of the youth national team, the U-15 and later U-17 when we went to world championships in Georgia.”

As a high school sophomore, Pozaric made a major decision to pursue playing in college in the United States. It’s a hard path, though a few of his club teammates had done the same and found West Coast programs. Antonio Knez, the Princeton senior goalie, is the only other Croatian player for the Tigers. Pozaric started to reach out to gauge interest from American schools.

“I made my own CV and put up a highlight video on YouTube,” said Pozaric. “I was reaching out to every coach in the U.S. Not many of them responded.”

Princeton head coach Dustin Litvak was tipped off about Pozaric’s interest and ability by Alex Bowen, a U.S. national team member who was practicing with Pozaric’s Croatian club. Bowen’s brother had played water polo for Princeton.

“He recommended me to Dusty which I think was really important for me coming to Princeton,” said Pozaric.

Bringing in the speedy, physically imposing Pozaric seems a no-brainer for Princeton when looking back. And he was thrilled to attend a school with such a great academic reputation. He had only heard about the academic side of Princeton, and with the chance to also play water polo, it was the perfect fit.

“It was not a hard decision where I wanted to come,” said Pozaric. “I definitely wanted to come here.”

Making the move has come with sacrifices. Pozaric doesn’t have a great chance to make the Croatian national team while at school. Players in professional leagues in Croatia or around Europe are considered more seriously for those spots.

“I definitely could have stayed,” said Pozaric. “I was invited for youth national championships, U-20, that was played in Prague last summer. But I couldn’t go because I had to come to Princeton to train with the team. If I had stayed, who knows what would have happened? But I don’t regret my decision at all.”

Pozaric returned to Croatia on his winter break and last summer. Working with his club helped him get a jump on his training coming into his second year at Princeton. He is an ambassador for Princeton now.

“It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it,” said Pozaric. “When I visit back home, they are definitely curious and ask me questions about how I like it in the U.S., about Princeton, about water polo in general.”

Pozaric has met his academic and athletic challenges. He is leaning toward majoring in economics with a certificate in entrepreneurship. Water polo wasn’t as big a change as the academic demands. The game was much like it is in Croatia.
“There’s a small difference in rules, but not a big deal,” said Pozaric.“ It was easy to accommodate that. It’s more goals per games and maybe slightly less physical, but not as much difference as I expected it to be. Water polo transition was not that hard. Both went pretty well for me. I’m really happy for that.”

Pozaric will be even happier if the Princeton team can achieve its national title aspirations. The Tigers opened the NCAA play with a hard-fought win over Fordham. They also beat them early in the season by a goal.

“It was completely different,” said Pozaric. “Earlier in the season the game was not as meaningful as this one today. Both teams, we and them, improved tremendously from when we played at the beginning of the season so it was a completely different game. They’re a great team and luckily it ended up well for us.”

Pozaric credited Princeton’s togetherness and defense for making the difference in the tight game. Sophomore Vladan Mitrovic and senior Keller Maloney led Princeton with three goals apiece, Pozaric had two while junior Pierce Maloney, junior George Caras and senior Ryan Neapole tallied one apiece. Freshman goalie West Temkin made 10 saves against Fordham.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Pozaric. “We were preparing all week for this game and luckily it turned out well. I don’t think we played as well as we played our conference finals last week, but luckily we ended up with a win.”

As time ran down in the second overtime, the Tigers turned to Pozaric for the game-winner, and he produced an incredible moment, delivering one of the biggest goals of his career on a big stage.

“It was an amazing feeling to end the game with a game-winner,” said Pozaric. “We did a really good job with our timeout play. The right side really pulled the goalie so I had a pretty open shot for the goal.”