George Washington University

April 18, 2010

Photo Gallery

WASHINGTON - Four seniors scored in their final home game at Smith Center Pool, led by Marissa Stamler's four goals, but the George Washington women's water polo team couldn't complete its second-half rally in a 9-7 loss to Princeton in CWPA Southern Division action Sunday afternoon.

GW (7-15, 0-6 CWPA Southern Division) will be the No. 4 seed at next weekend's CWPA Southern Division Championship in Princeton, NJ. The Colonials will face top-seeded Bucknell Saturday at 4:00 pm.

Stamler scored three of her goals after halftime as GW battled from a five-goal deficit to within two goals on three different occasions over the final 16 minutes.

Princeton (17-8, 5-1) had an answer each time, with Phoebe Champion scoring the game-winning goal with 1:28 left in the third quarter and goalkeeper Kristen Ward making three saves in one possession with under three minutes remaining and GW trailing 8-6. Brittany Zwirner netted a man-up goal with 1:23 to play to make it 9-6, but senior Emily Chereson scored nine seconds later to again slice the deficit to two.

The Colonials forced a shot clock violation as the Tigers stalled on their next possession, but a turnover on the ensuing offensive set sealed the game.

Senior Bernadette Karandy scored to even it a 1-1 early in the first quarter, but Princeton took the lead with 12 seconds left in the period and used a 5-1 run in the second quarter to grab a 7-2 lead at the break.

Stamler and senior Tara Sullivan beat Ward from long range in the opening 87 seconds of the second half to make it 7-4 and force the Tigers to call timeout. Stamler netted her third goal of the game on the man-advantage to make it 7-5, but the Colonials failed on three other man-up opportunities in the third quarter and trailed 8-5 entering the final eight minutes following Champion's third goal of the game.

Chereson found Stamler for her fourth goal with 4:28 to play to close to 8-6. Despite turning the ball over on their next trip, the Colonials defense held and the attack had three clean looks at cutting the deficit to a goal, but Ward turned away each attempt.

Stamler added an assist to move into the Top 5 all-time at GW in the category. Chereson had a goal, an assist and four ejections drawn. Sullivan had a goal and two steals, Karandy chipped in a goal and a steal and senior Sarah Fitch posted a steal and an ejection drawn. Sophomore Allison Peotter was held without a goal, but managed three assists and two steals.

Junior goalkeeper Charlotte Schou matched Ward with nine saves.

GW finished 7-of-20 shooting, including 2-of-8 on man-up chances. Princeton shot 9-of-22 and converted half its six man-up opportunities.

Princeton 9, GW 7

PU 2 - 5 - 1 - 1 -- 9
GW 1 - 1 - 3 - 2 -- 7

PU goals - Champion 3, Brunner 2, Ardila, Wilcox, Soroka, Zwirner
PU saves - Ward 9

GW goals - Stamler 4, Karandy, Sullivan, Chereson
GW saves - Schou 9

Records
PU - 17-8, 5-1
GW - 7-15, 0-6