The Minutemen are headed to the Final Four.

After missing the Tournament last year, the 13th-ranked Massachusetts men’s water polo team has reached the NCAA tourney after rolling through the Eastern Championship this weekend at Princeton, N.J.

With big output from all ends, the Minutemen captured the title after beating familiar foe Queens in the final game, 8-4.

UMass jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, and used a stifling defense that has been the hallmark this season, as well as the usual solid goaltending of senior J.R. VanderWall to hold the Knights to four goals on fourteen shots.

It was an all-senior affair, with Greg Trayer leading the Maroon and White in scoring, earning a hat trick in the victory. Seniors Carlos Ramos and Mike Foley also tallied a pair each, and seniors Adam Moore and Evan Lutz finalized the win for the Minutemen with one goal apiece. Junior Chad Arnold rounded out the scoring with one goal, and Ramos also contributed two assists to the effort.

Yesterday’s victory was the culmination of an impressive weekend by UMass, that beat Princeton and St. Francis on Saturday.

In the first game, UMass defeated Princeton by a score of 10-7, on goals from Trayer, Foley, and Ramos. Trayer, with four tallies, also had two assists. Foley, who has been superb in the attacking zone all year, netted a hat trick, and Ramos scored two more in the victory.

In the second game of the day, UMass dominated St. Francis, winning 8-3. The Maroon and White jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter, and that was all it would need, with VanderWall living up to the second half of his surname, stopping 12 of 15 Terrier shots.

Trayer was also named the tournament M.V.P. for his contributions in the three games.

In winning the Eastern title, Massachusetts now sets its sights on the highest goal of all: the NCAA Championship, to be held on the first weekend in December, in Palo Alto, Calif. The Minutemen earned third place honors in 1999 at the tournament, and then missed it altogether in 2000. This year, however, has shown that the UMass team is one that could seriously challenge the western powerhouses of collegiate water polo, like the University of California-Berkeley, and Southern California.

The Minutemen proved to be among the best in the Collegiate Water Polo Association this year, with few speed bumps on the way to earning the second-best national ranking out of that conference. Trailing only Navy in rankings among eastern teams, UMass dispatched most opponents without difficulty, but lost three times in the regular season, including an epic and emotional battle with Princeton in late October.

UMass also played well in the postseason, winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship before being upset by Harvard in the CWPA Northern Division final.

Now the Minutemen will be able to enjoy a two-week layoff, while the representatives from the western divisions are sorted out. The format for the Championship is as follows, according to the NCAA Water Polo website: “The championship features a four-team, single-elimination format. One team each from the Collegiate Water Polo Association, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Western Water Polo Association automatically qualify. The remaining team is selected at large without geographical restriction.”

Once again, the Minutemen have found a way to win the games they needed to win, and the “to be continued…” tagline remains a part of the UMass season.