In the third meeting between the No. 18 Princeton men's water polo team and No. 14 Navy this season, it was an early Tiger lead that propelled the squad to a 10-7 victory over the Midshipmen. Unlike its two regular season games versus Navy, Princeton found a way to maintain its momentum and conclude the Southern Division Championship with a third place finish.

Princeton jumped out to a 3-1 advantage in the first quarter and remained in control from that point forward. The second quarter saw a Princeton offensive burst, as the Tigers went on a 5-2 run heading into halftime.

With an 8-3 advantage, Navy's 4-2 second half rally was not enough to propel past Princeton for a top-three finish at the division championship.

The Tiger defense made several critical stops to hold off a fighting Navy side, with goalie Alex Gow leading the way with 10 saves. In the field, Billy Tifft tallied a team-leading five steals, while both Drew Hoffenberg and Jamie Kuprenas made three apiece.

On the offensive end, Hoffenberg headlined the Princeton attack with four goals. Tommy Donahue followed seeing the back of the net twice and Kuprenas, Kayj Shannon, Bradley Wachtell and Tim Wenzlau each scored once.

Princeton now returns home to host the CWPA Eastern Championship at DeNunzio Pool from Nov. 16-18. The reining Eastern champion Tigers are the third seed and will open the weekend with the Northern Division No. 2 seed on Friday at 1 p.m.