Heading into this weekend's North Atlantic Division Championship at Bowdoin with a perfect 8-0 record, the water polo team kept a lock on the top spot at the conclusion of conference play. The Jumbos once again shut down each of their opponents and came away with the crown.
In the final, Tufts topped a speedy Amherst team that went 6-2 in the regular season, displaying solid defense to stifle the Lord Jeffs in the 16-11 victory.
"Defensively, we pretty much shut them down," junior and leading scorer Pete Georgakakos said. "They would get goals once in a while on random plays, but for the most part, we really controlled them on defense and our offense was coming from all over the place."
En route to the title game, the Jumbos also squared off against No. 4 Coast Guard and No. 8 University of Vermont, winning both games convincingly by respective scores of 15-9 and 22-7.
With the win, Tufts will move on to next weekend's Div. III Men's National Collegiate Club Championship tournament in St. Louis, Mo. where they will check in seeded third. In their second trip to Nationals in as many years, the Jumbos will look to improve upon last season's third-place performance at the event.
Though the team has the advantage of having faced many of the clubs last year, to slow down the physical competitors at Nationals, the Jumbos will need to continue to bear down defensively.
"We'll be practicing team defense," Georgakakos said. "It's something we showed we can do in the final, but we just want to keep perfecting that and working on it."
See Thursday's Daily for further coverage.
-by Carly Helfand
