MOUNT ST. MARY'S at the PRINCETON INVITATIONAL
Friday, September 5
Mount St. Mary's v. No. 9 Princeton (10:00 a.m.)
DeNunzio Pool – Princeton N.J.
 
Saturday, September 6
Mount St. Mary's v. No. 20 Santa Clara (8:00 p.m.)
DeNunzio Pool – Princeton N.J.
 
Sunday, September 7
Mount St. Mary's v. LIU (3:00 p.m.)
DeNunzio Pool – Princeton N.J.
 
EMMITSBURG, Md. (September 4, 2025) – Mount St. Mary's men's water polo travels to Princeton, New Jersey for this year's rendition of the Princeton Invitational, taking on No. 9 Princeton, No. 20 Santa Clara, and LIU. The Mountaineers returned from their weekend at the Air Force Rare Air Challenge with a record of 1-3, defeating Redlands by a score of 17-15.

MOUNT UPDATE

Returning from Colorado, the Mountaineers garnered the win against Redlands and a close loss to Biola by a score of 13-10 in favor of the Eagles. They tallied a good effort against No. 20 Air Force with a third quarter 8-6 win for the Mountaineers, eventually falling to the Falcons at fulltime by a score of 24-14.

In total across their four games out west, the Mountaineers tallied 44 goals from 126 shots for a shooting percentage of 35%. They also tallied 33 assists, 34 steals, and 47 drawn exclusions in Colorado. The team also kept a 50% swim off win rate, winning 8 of their 16 quarter starts.

Sherif Hosni claimed this past week's Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Defensive Player of the Week with a 54 save weekend, including a career best 20 saves against No. 3 California on August 31. Alexandros Belesis led the way during the first weekend in front of goal, scoring 16 goals for a shooting percentage of 42%, including an eight-goal showing against Redlands on August 30. And Ioannis Skliras notched five goals and three assists in his first weekend as a Mountaineer, including a four-goal showing against Redlands.

THE OPPONENTS

Princeton come into their first weekend of 2025 collegiate play, with the Tigers playing an exhibition game against, Ferencvárosi TC, the Hungarian champions of the LEN Champions League, on September 3. The Tigers put together a 23-9 record in 2024, with a 9-1 conference record. The team recorded notable wins against No. 15 Harvard, No. 18 Brown, and No. 9 Long Beach, eventually falling to No. 4 Stanford in the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Santa Clara comes out east for the 2025 Princeton Invitational off the back of a 2024 campaign that saw the Broncos go 13-11, with a 2-4 record in conference. Notable wins last year for Santa Clara were over No. 13 UC Davis, No. 19 Brown, and No. 17 Loyola Marymount. Last weekend, the Broncos recorded wins over UC Merced and Fresno Pacific at the Bobcat Mini, outscoring the opponents 43-10.

And LIU travels to Princeton off the back of a 0-3 start to the year at the Bruno Classic in Providence, Rhode Island, falling in succession to Wagner, No. 9 Pacific, and No. 3 Fordham. Last year, the Sharks recorded a record of 10-23, with notable wins against Toronto, MIT, and Connecticut College in the Northeast Water Polo Conference championships.

ALL-TIME RECORD

In program history, the Mountaineers are 0-4 against Princeton and 1-4 against LIU, with their last matchup with the Sharks in 2024 ending in a 14-13 overtime win for LIU. This weekend will be the first time in program history that the Mount faces off against Santa Clara.