GOING WEST: Princeton University men’s water polo goalie West Temkin winces as he makes a save in action last season. Last weekend, Temkin helped Princeton go 3-0 in Northeast Water Polo Conference action as the No. 6 Tigers defeated No. 20 Harvard, 17-11, and MIT, 14-7, on Saturday before topping No. 18 Brown, 15-9, a day later. Princeton, now 14-2, plays at LIU and Iona on October 7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

West Temkin made history with the USA Men’s Junior National water polo team last summer.

He would like to make more as part of the Princeton University men’s water polo squad. Following a strong freshman year that ended when Princeton was eliminated in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals by No. 1 USC to end a program-record 27-win season, the sophomore goalkeeper is aiming higher.

“The goal is to win a national championship, something that hasn’t ever been done by Princeton or any East Coast school I believe,” said Temkin. “I think if we could do that, we’d really put East Coast water polo on the map. Yes, we beat Stanford last year and UCSB, but that means nothing to us. Obviously those were great wins, but if we can keep taking it to the next level, I think the only way to prove to people that East Coast water polo is what it is to win a national championship. That’s my goal. By the time I leave I want to have that under my belt.”

Temkin is trying to build on the confidence gained after a history-making summer. He was named the tournament’s most outstanding goalie after helping the United States win its first medal at a Junior World Championships. Temkin made 12 saves in an 11-6 win over Greece for the bronze medal.

“It was a total honor to be able to medal there,” said Temkin. “I don’t think anybody expected us to do it, but if it was going to happen, it was with this team. In past years the junior national teams haven’t put this much emphasis on prior training together and this whole selection process like they did this year. If it was going to be any team, it was going to be our team.”

Temkin, who has been a part of national teams since the summer before his high school freshman year, began the tryout process last January. He flew to California once per month for training camps in which the invitees were whittled down to the final roster that traveled to worlds in Romania. Temkin missed weekends at Princeton to train with the team.

“We’re crunched for time as opposed to these other countries that get to train with each other all the time,” said Temkin. “The chemistry we had, a lot of us have played together on previous national teams. I’ve played with about 70 percent of the team that was there in Romania before with national team or club teams or against them in college. It was awesome to make history and be a part of that, actually playing, and putting in the work. It was all worth it.”

Being named the goalkeeper of the tournament was another unexpected bonus. He began the trip to worlds as the back-up goalie, but overtook the starter. He shined throughout the tournament and was honored for his performance.

“My parents were there, which was so cool,” said Temkin, a 6’3 resident of Alamo, Calif. “They weren’t even sure if I was going to play in it, and they were deciding if they should come or not. They came. I didn’t even know I was going to get the award until two seconds before I got it. So they were surprised and I was surprised. It was awesome.”

Temkin is looking to continue to raise his own level and that of the Tigers. It’s the only way that Princeton will reach new heights. He’s tried as best he can to use all of his different experiences to return for his second season at Princeton a better player.

“It’s tough to get used to the level of play here compared to what it was internationally, just because it’s so different,” said Temkin. “It did help with confidence and all the little tiny things I did correctly in Romania that I can bring into this play. But it is different play.”

Though the dynamics, make-up and styles of the national and Princeton teams are different and the competition level as well, Temkin has been able to stand out in both. He is joined in goal on the Princeton roster by Kristof Kovacs, the goalie from 2022 gold medalist Hungary.

“I love having another good goalie on the roster,” said Temkin. “I think it breeds competition and the only way I’m going to get better is with competition. When there’s a lesser goalie behind me I think I get complacent, so I think it’s great to have Kristof there. We always compete in practice and in the pool and in games. And it’s honestly nice to get to switch off. We get to rest when we need rest and we’re both getting better together and making each other better, so I’m super fortunate to have that.”

The two are the backbone of a defense that is still coming together for Princeton midway through the season. After losing a pair of games against tough West Coast competition, the Tigers returned to DeNunzio Pool to sweep a weekend trio of Northeast Water Polo Conference games this weekend. The No. 6 Tigers defeated No. 20 Harvard, 17-11, and MIT, 14-7, on Saturday before topping No. 18 Brown, 15-9, on Sunday.

“I thought we played pretty well overall,” said Temkin, who had 11 saves Sunday in the win over Brown and also played against MIT while Kovacs played against Harvard. “Our offense is getting there. Obviously we let up an average of nine goals per game, which is good to keep them to single digits, but our team specifically has a big emphasis on defense. Against Harvard and MIT, we let one guy score six goals on each team, primarily out of center. So we have to work on moving in our zones. I also think it’s a great start to league games beating each team by about six goals each time. So I thought this was a great start to league games for us.”

Princeton, 14-2 after the weekend sweep, will play at LIU and at Iona on Saturday before another challenging road trip out west. The Tigers face UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and UCLA in a stretch from October 15-18. Princeton is looking forward to more tough competition and trying to protect against getting in a rut of practices, games and school becoming too routine after the early euphoria of kicking off the season has worn off.

“We have to really embrace every opportunity to get better,” said Princeton head coach Dustin Litvak. “This weekend we have two games against LIU and Iona. Iona is an up-and-coming team. They’re both in shallow/deep pools, something we don’t have any practice in. It’s very abnormal. There’s no other sport where you show up and the field of play is different. The challenges are there to try to play the right way and approach the different pool dimensions the best we can. It’s about taking each of these practices seriously the next two weeks and putting ourselves in a position to tackle that California trip. We go out there again, and it’s about getting better. So we have to be ready for a more physical style of play, a different style of officiating, and playing against teams that are getting one- and two-goal games pretty much every weekend. It’s good competition.”

The Tigers hadn’t had many close games when they made their first trip out to California and it showed. But Princeton learned from that trip and feels better prepared when it sees top competition again.

“We definitely learned a lot about what it takes to compete at the highest level, every possession is important,” said Litvak. “We watched a lot of video and a lot of tape from our California tape of how many wasted possessions we had on offense. There were definitely some things to fix on the defensive end, but we definitely took away from there how poor our attack was in 6-on-5 and even 6-on-6. So I think it got a lot better this weekend, but you don’t know because some of it is just based off the competition you’re getting.”

George Caras led a balanced attack in the win over Harvard with a hat trick. Roko Pozaric scored five goals to pace the offense against Brown. Princeton has been sorting out its roles after replacing last year’s graduates and welcoming in this year’s class of first-year players as well as bringing back junior Mason Killion, who took a year off from school last year.

“I think every year from now on we’ll have better and better teams,” said Temkin, who has totaled 93 saves so far this season and has posted a .557 save percentage. “Obviously it’s tough to lose players like Keller Maloney and Joan (Coloma), the guys that were the leaders last year, but I think people are stepping into that role really well. We still have Yurian (Quinones). So the team dynamics are just different because we have different players, and I think that will constantly be changing over time, but I think we have an even stronger team than last year. We have more potential. We just have to reach our potential.”

Temkin gained valuable experience in his first year at the college level. He rotated in goal with Antonio Knez, who graduated and is playing as a graduate student at Pepperdine this year.

“It’s so different from playing high school or even national team stuff,” said Temkin. “The team was super, super supportive. We worked through our defense really well obviously backing me up. Obviously as a goalie, you’re only as good as your defense. They were there to back me, which was amazing. They helped me play the way I wanted to play, and I helped them play the way they wanted to play. We worked really, really well together and I think that’s something we’re carrying on this year.”

Replacing Knez has proven easier than some other positions just because Princeton can go with either Temkin or Kovacs in goal, and know they have proven performers there despite their youth.
“I think we’re blessed to have both of them,” said Litvak. “I think West definitely has learned our system more. I think he’s becoming more comfortable in what we’re trying to do as a team. But also when you’re going back and forth between the USA team or whatever national team and a college team, systems are different so you have to make adjustments. West has great energy and he’s a great communicator. He’s super athletic. I can’t say enough about how blessed we are to have both of those guys.”

The two are already accomplished internationally, and are establishing themselves in the collegiate game. They are part of solid starting point in the back for a Princeton men’s water polo team that has historic aspirations as it prepares for the second half of the season.