Colgan, Tigers women’s water polo avenges loss to Hartwick
By: Justin Feil
Before Sunday, only five of the 18 players on the Princeton University water polo team had experienced an ECAC Championship.
The young Tigers can all share in their fourth ECAC title in six years with a 7-6 upset of top-seeded Hartwick on Sunday at Bucknell University. Earlier in the regular season, the No. 16 Tigers lost to No. 15 Hartwick, 12-11, in overtime.
"In the first game, we came out really slowly," said Elyse Colgan, a sophomore utility for PU. "The first game, we were down by five goals at the half. It was early in the season. We went into sudden death overtime and couldn’t pull through. In this game, we came out strong right away. We were up 2-0 right away and we controlled it from the start."
Colgan, the Tigers’ leading scorer, was held to just a single goal in the championship, but her value was acknowledged as a first-team All-ECAC honoree. Colgan also had a goal in a 14-5 win over Villanova in the ECAC first round and a goal in a 7-3 win over Harvard in the semifinals on Saturday.
"One game, we had seven different players score," Colgan said. "Everybody was stepping up and shooting well. We played really, really, really well as a team this weekend."
The Tigers played as a veteran squad, instead of one that has just five players with junior or senior status.
"We’re a really young team," Colgan said. "A lot of the players, there are 10 sophomores, a lot of us played together. We already have a year of playing together under our belt. It’s definitely exciting to have a young team and do so well. We can only get better."
The Tigers were coming off a 5-3 spring trip to California that gave them their first taste of a higher intensity weekend. In the trip were games against UCLA, UC San Diego, San Diego State and UC Irvine.
"It was a week of intense games," said Colgan, a resident of Annapolis, Md. "We played a lot of teams ranked ahead of us. Then had weekend off. Got to rejuvenate. Now getting ready for all our championship games. It looks good."
After a weekend off, the Tigers started up the championship portion of their season with a run through the ECACs. Princeton will play George Washington and Maryland on Saturday and then open the Southern Championships as the top seed April 23 at Bucknell.
"It was definitely more intense," said Colgan, who was part of a team that lost to Brown in the ECAC semifinals last year. "We had a championship on the line. Before, most of the games have been set. We know who we’re playing going into the weekend. This is a tad more exciting seeing who beats who. Everyone was fired up to play a championship game.
"It seeds us better at Easterns," she added of winning. "I think winning against Hartwick will give us an advantage going into Easterns. It ranks us third instead of fourth. It will still be tough, but it will make our bracket a little easier."
It hasn’t been getting easier for Colgan and the Tigers. The sophomore has had more teams hanging on her when she’s in the middle of the offense at the center hole set position. Even when she’s not scoring four goals in a game, she’s finding ways to contribute at both ends of the pool as she looks to improve her own overall game.
"I’m working on defensively trying to make sure I’m playing the best defense possible," Colgan said. "I’m trying to improve that. Everything else too. When they do hang on me, my role is to draw kickouts. Everybody’s been doing a great job."
In the championship win over Hartwick, the same team the Tigers beat for the 2003 ECAC title, Danielle Carlson and Jazmin Brown scored two goals apiece and freshman goalkeeper Natalie Kim made 16 saves to preserve the win. The defensive effort was a key to the young squad’s win.
"We have good team dynamics," Colgan said. "I’m not really surprised (Princeton won). This was first weekend we really clicked.
"The Hartwick game was a really, really physical game. We’re smaller. We basically have to help each other out more. It’s important to play team defense because of our size. We did a good job of that this weekend."
And the end result was a first ECAC Championship for Colgan and most of the young Princeton women’s water polo team.

