George Washington University

Oct. 17, 2009

Photo Gallery

WASHINGTON, DC - No. 17 Princeton's Mark Zalewski scored five goals to offset senior John-Claude Wright's four-goal, six-point effort in the George Washington men's water polo team's 12-9 loss to the Tigers in CWPA Southern Division action at Smith Center Pool Saturday morning.

Wright converted 3-of-4 five-meter penalty attempts, including a successful try with 1:06 remaining to pull within three goals at 12-9, but Zalewski and the Tigers had built an insurmountable lead with a 7-3 run between the second and fourth quarters.

GW (7-17) falls to 0-5 in CWPA Southern Division play with a league contest at No. 13 Navy on Sunday. The Colonials also face 15th-ranked Air Force in a non-conference tilt in Annapolis, MD, on Sunday. 17th-ranked Princeton (9-9) moves into a tie for first with Bucknell in the CWPA Southern Division at 5-1 in conference play.

The Colonials trailed 4-1 early in the second quarter until Wright tallied twice and sophomore Cray Rogers scored his second goal of the game during a span of 4:28 to trim the deficit to a goal, 5-4. Zalewski ended the mini-rally with a goal with 1:10 remaining in the period to put the Tigers ahead 6-4 at halftime.

Princeton opened the second half with three straight goals to build a five-goal cushion at 9-4. Freshman Ross Kirkbaumer halted the run with a breakaway goal at the 2:45 mark of the third quarter, but the Colonials wouldn't get any closer than four goals until Wright's late five-meter shot.

GW finished 9-of-22 on shot attempts and 2-of-6 on the man-advantage.

Freshman Cameron Illes played all four quarters and finished with 12 stops, two steals and an assist. Princeton's Mike Merlone also played all 32 minutes and made 11 saves, including a penalty block on Wright early in the fourth quarter.

Cray Rogers finished with a hat trick and three steals before being ejected in the fourth period. Senior Nick Archambault added a goal and rookie Guy Helman chipped in an assist and four steals.

With his four goals, Wright moved within five goals of GW's all-time Top 5 at 191 career goals.

PU -- 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 -- 12
GW -- 1 - 3 - 1 - 4 -- 9

GW goals - Wright 4, C. Rogers 3, Kirkbaumer, Archambault
GW saves - Illes 12

PU goals - Zalewski 5, Wigley 2, Ruth, Helou, Cole, Vreeland, Wenzlau
PU saves - Merlone 11

Records
GW - 7-17, 0-5 CWPA Southern Division
PU - 9-9, 5-1 CWPA Southern Division