This weekend No. 12 ranked Massachusetts Water Polo heads into a crucial trio of games in the College Water Polo Association tournament at Brown University. The Minutemen will square off against Iona and Queens on Saturday, and host Brown on Sunday.

The Minutemen (14-2) are coming off a terrific weekend series in which they defeated George Washington, Bucknell, and Navy, while losing a hard-fought battle to league rival Princeton. However, their play was enough to bump Princeton from its previous No. 12 ranking. Also, senior goalie J.P. VanderWall was named UMass/WHMP Athlete of the Week yesterday.

In this past weekend’s action, VanderWall had 38 saves in 17 quarters, including 10 against Princeton and an impressive 14 against Navy. With an astounding 4.24 goals per game average, and a .700 save percentage, VanderWall leads the Maroon and White into this weekend’s important matches.

The key opponent this weekend will probably be Queens College. Queens is also coming off a successful weekend at the North/South Invitational Tournament in New Jersey, where it went 4-0 against Johns Hopkins, Princeton, George Washington and Navy. Freshman keeper Vedran Sokac and freshman 2-meter defenseman Michel Vieira, who netted 4 goals in the Johns Hopkins game, lead the Knights.

The Knights are, however, coming off a hard fought win against Navy. Vieira also won CWPA Player of the Week honors yesterday.

Iona is also a team that the Minutemen are anxiously preparing for. The Gaels split their games at the North/South Invitational, losing 9-5 to Princeton and 9-8 to Bucknell. The victories came over Johns Hopkins (14-7) and George Washington. Sophomore Chris Przekota, who earned the CWPA Player of the Week award early in September, leads Iona.

The Brown Bears will be looking for revenge on Sunday, when they square off with the Minutemen for the second time in three weeks. In their September 26 meeting, UMass rolled over the Bears 20-7 on Hat Tricks from juniors Justin Houck and Andre Nyce, freshman Adam Zobler and senior Mike Foley. Look for this to be a tough contest against the unranked Bears.

UMass is riding high off the weekend’s wins and will be looking for continued excellence from VanderWall, as well as some points from Foley, and seniors Greg Trayer and Adam Moore. Massachusetts faces off against Iona and Queens on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. respectively and finishes up with Brown on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.