Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao enters his 11th season at the helm of the Tigers

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 20th-ranked Princeton men’s water polo team opens up the 2008 season this weekend as it hosts the Princeton Invitational at DeNunzio Pool. The field features 10 teams, of which eight are currently nationally ranked. Princeton will match up with UC San Diego, Stanford, Santa Clara and Brown during the weekend.

All four Princeton games will streamed live in TigerZone. Click here for more information.

The team enters the 2008 season with its sights set on a return to the Eastern Championship, after coming up a few goals short in 2007. The Tigers played to a 15-14 overall record last season and were 3-5 in the CWPA Southern Division, placing fifth in the Southern Championships.

The Tigers will look to improve when the 2008 season commences with a team comprised of 16 returning players and four newcomers. Senior captains Brendan Colgate and Alex Edmunds lead the group. Colgan was a first-team All-Southern performer as a sophomore and has scored 60 goals in his career to rank 12th on Princeton’s all-time scoring list. Edmunds scored a career-high 21 goals last season and has found the back of the net 36 times in his career.

Junior Mark Zalewski, who scored 36 goals last season to rank second on the team in scoring and first among returning players and was Princeton’s top sprinter, and junior Eric Vreeland, who ranks 11th on the Princeton scoring charts with 73 goals and ranks second in career assists with 70, will also bolster the Princeton offense. Junior Gregor Horstmeyer, a second-team All-Southern choice last season provides the Tigers strength throughout the pool, as he scored 25 goals and added a team-high 28 assists, and 35 steals last season. Sophomore Matt Hale led all Tigers with 52 steals last season.

The goalkeeping trio of juniors Scott Hvidt and Henry Fyfe and sophomore Mike Merlone will share responsibilities. Hvidt and Melone each played in 11 games last season and both sported above .500 records.

Princeton begins the season ranked 20th in the nation and will be challenged early and often as Princeton’s first 10 games all come against teams currently ranked. Four of those games come this weekend.

The Tigers open the season on Friday night against ninth-ranked UC San Diego. Princeton is 1-4 all-time against the Tritons including a 10-9 loss a season ago during the SoCal Tournament. The Tritons have played four times this season and are 3-1 with wins over Redlands, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

Princeton’s second game comes against No. 15 Santa Clara, which is also opening its season this weekend. Princeton is 2-0 all-time against Santa Clara and defeated the Broncos 6-4 last season when Santa Clara appeared in the Princeton Invitational.

The Tigers will take on third-ranked Stanford on Saturday night. Princeton is 0-2 all-time against the Cardinal and last met Stanford at the SoCal Tournament last season. Stanford is also opening the 2008 season this weekend.

Princeton completes the weekend against 19th-ranked Brown. The Tigers are 10-4 all-time against their Ivy rival but lost to the Bears 10-7 when the teams met last season. Brown has yet to play a game this season.

The complete tournament schedule is available on the Princeton University website.