Princeton, NJ - The season-opening Princeton men's water polo game against UCLA scheduled for Friday, September 11 at 6 p.m., at DeNunzio Pool will be televised live on ESPNU. The game will mark the first time that a Princeton men's water polo game will appear on live television. Last Spring, ESPNU aired a Princeton women's water polo game against Bucknell, which was the first water polo contest to ever be shown on any of the ESPN networks.
"We are very excited to be able to showcase our sport, school and venue in this manner," says Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao. "We heard such positive feedback from parents, alumni and supporters of our program after the women's game last year and it is great that we will have another opportunity, this time for the men, to play on ESPNU."
The Princeton/UCLA game will open the season for both teams and is also the first scheduled game of the Princeton Invitational. Princeton enters 2009 following a 19-10 season a year ago and the fifth Southern Championship in program history. The Tigers reached the Eastern Championship game and came up just short against Navy. UCLA was 16-8 last season and finished fourth in the MPSF Tournament. The teams last met in September of 2006 with UCLA winning 15-2 at the NorCal Tournament at Stanford. The two teams also met in each of the previous two seasons, including an overtime thriller that UCLA won 7-5 in overtime in the 2004 NCAA Semifinals.
The game will open an exciting season of water polo action at DeNunzio Pool, which will culminate with the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championships on Dec. 5-6.
