Women's Water Polo | 4/29/2017 4:56:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, IN – Hartwick water polo fell a goal short in the CWPA semifinal round on Saturday to #9 Princeton by a final score of 8-7 at Indiana University's Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, IN. The Tigers grabbed a 5-2 lead with a three-goal run in the second quarter. The Hawks trimmed the gap to one three separate times but were never able to draw even.
           
With the result, the Hawks fall to 23-10 on the season. Princeton, which improves to 23-3 on the year, has now defeated the Hawks in the conference semis in four of the last five seasons. The result also marks the second one-goal defeat to Princeton after the Tigers edged the Hawks 13-12 at Moyer Pool on April 9.
           
The two teams traded goals over the course of the first quarter. Princeton broke the ice at 6:29 on a goal from Morgan Hallock. Charlotte Cottle (Blakehurst, Australia / Presbyterian Ladies College) got 'Wick on the scoreboard on the power-play at 3:34 with Lauren Brennan (Canberra, Australia / St. Clares College) assisting.
           
The Tigers went up 2-1 on the man-advantage at the 2:36 mark. Nikolina Mihajlovik (Mississauga, ONT / Silverthorn Collegiate Inst.) tied it for the Hawks with just three seconds remaining for a 2-2 tie at the end of the first.
           
Sydney Cheong started the Tigers' three-goal rally in the second after 1:59 of action. Player of the Game Chelsea Johnson made it 4-2 at 3:59. Lindsey Kelleher extended the advantage to three 2:36 later. Brennan got one back for the Hawks with 22 ticks left in the half off a pass from Zsofia Polak (Dunaujvaros, Hungary / Rudas HS) to make it a 5-3 deficit for the Hawks at halftime.
           
Polak scored from Katie McKenty (Auckland, New Zealand / Takapuna Grammar School) at 5:27 of the third quarter to pull the Hawks within one, 5-4, but Princeton scored two straight goals in a 2:01 span to make it 7-4. Tori Wilson (Kitchener, ONT / Grand River Collegiate Institute) fired a shot that hit both posts which would have made it a 6-5 game but it stayed out and the Tigers countered for the three-goal edge instead. Mihajlovik's second goal of the game trimmed the margin to two heading into the final quarter.
           
Lena Kotanchyan (Moscow, Russia / Elk Island School #368) inched the Hawks closer at 5:31 on a power-play goal with Polak assisting. Johnson answered, however, with a man-advantage tally just 21 seconds later to give the Tigers a two-goal cushion with 5:10 left. Polak once again cut the lead to one, 8-7, off a feed from Brennan with 3:23 left in the contest. She had one final chance with under 30 seconds to go but her shot was stopped and Princeton ran out the remaining clock for the victory.
           
Polak's two goals and two assists led Hartwick. Mihajlovik added her two tallies and Brennan contributed one goal and two assists. Josette Santos (Huntington Beach, CA / Edison HS) made seven saves in goal.
           
Hartwick closes out its season tomorrow at noon in the third-place game. The Hawks face either Michigan or Harvard.