After a strong offensive performance in Friday night’s win over Bucknell, the Terrapin water polo team was unable to capitalize on its chances against No. 16-ranked Princeton on Saturday.

Despite sophomore Blaise Stanicic’s three-goal performance, the Terps struggled to stop Princeton’s efficient offense and lost 11-6. Princeton dominated the Terps, who were winless in all four head-to-head meetings with the Tigers this season.

“They finished plays better than we did,” head coach Carl Salyer said. “At this level, that is the difference between wins and losses.”

The focus all season for the Terps (13-16) has been turning defense into offense. Their pressure defense creates fast-break opportunities, which has helped them achieve a 4-2 division record – an improvement so far from last year’s 4-8 record.

The Terps initially slowed Princeton’s attack and forced the Tigers to call a timeout in the game’s first three minutes. But after the timeout, Princeton made adjustments to the Terps’ defense and eventually took a 4-2 first-quarter lead that was never relinquished.

Even though the Terps tried to force the tempo of the game with their pressure-style of defense, the Tigers were not rattled until it was too late.

“Towards the end of the game we were getting a lot of steals,” sophomore Elizabeth Hopkins said. “If we got that going earlier, the game would have been different.”

With the Princeton game behind them, the Terps await the CWPA Southern Division tournament, the CWPA Eastern tournament and possibly the NCAA tournament.

“We are going to solidify our defensive schemes in order to generate some offense,” Salyer said. “We need to get the ball in positions that allow us to score.”

The Terps will face Bucknell and Princeton again in the Southern and possibly Eastern divisional tournaments. The Terps and Bison are tied 2-2 in the season series, and if the Terps want to overtake the Bison and snap their losing streak to the Tigers, they will have to control the tempo of the game – something they didn’t do Saturday.

“When we play press defense we get counterattacks, we are able to change the momentum and get opportunities to score,” Stanicic said.

Contact reporter Misha Kestler at sports@dbk.umd.edu.