Host Harvard Picks Up Two Wins in Senior Day Doubleheader

The Harvard women’s water polo team (11-9, 2-2 CWPA) had a busy Saturday afternoon, hosting a doubleheader against Connecticut College (4-7) and Marist College (9-15) at Blodgett Pool.

Though both games resulted in victories for the Crimson, the twinbill was a tale of two games: while Harvard easily dispatched the Camels, 19-2, the squad needed two periods of extra play to topple the Red Foxes, 13-12.

Saturday was also Senior Day for the Crimson. The team’s two veterans, goalie Shami Entenman and attacker and co-captain Patricia Smith, played in the last home games of their collegiate careers. Younger members of the Harvard squad wanted to give the duo a pleasant memory of their last games at Blodgett Pool.

“I think that was definitely a motivating factor at the end of the game,” junior attacker Monica Zdrojewski said. “Our seniors are great and we’re going to miss them a lot, so we wanted to send them out on a high note.”

HARVARD 13, MARIST COLLEGE 12

With six seconds left in overtime and the score leveled at 12-12, sophomore defender Elise Molnar found her classmate, attacker Aisha Price, three meters from the goal. Molnar lobbed the ball to Price, and as the final seconds were ticking off the clock, the sophomore rose up and hurled the ball toward goal.

Price’s shot split two Marist defenders and found the back of the net, giving her team a one-point advantage with just three seconds left in the game. This was all that the Crimson needed, as time expired during the Red Foxes’ attempt to even the score.

“Aisha at three meters at center goal, I’ll take that all day, every day,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “She’s got a cannon.”

Following her game-winning shot, Price’s teammates rushed to the center of the pool to celebrate with the sophomore.

Though all eyes were on her after the game, Price felt that the other members of the team also deserved recognition for their contributions in the squad’s victory.

“I was just the lucky one who got to put the last one in,” Price said.

It seemed as if Marist was in control of Saturday’s matchup from the get-go. The Red Foxes picked up a lead early in the game and were on top by three points twice during the contest. The Crimson found itself trailing, 9-6, in the third period of play.

Minnis said that the team changed its defensive scheme midway through the contest. The coach was unhappy with how many isolations Marist had but felt that the alteration on defense solved the problem and allowed his team to make a comeback.

“That was a big turning point in the game,” Minnis said.

With two goals from Zdrojewski and one from Price, the squad knotted the game at nine apiece. Following a go-ahead score from Marist, Harvard junior attacker Shannon Purcell scored with 4:57 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game, 10-10.

The Red Foxes nearly pulled off the victory with a game-winner of their own. With 15 seconds to go in regulation, senior defender Agnes Konopka’s shot got by Crimson junior goalie Laurel McCarthy but sailed just over the goal.

When Harvard faced Marist on the road earlier in the season, the Red Foxes earned the victory, 13-10.

Members of the Crimson team were glad to have avenged the loss, and Price pointed to the change of venue, among other things, as a contributing factor.

“It’s always an advantage playing at home in our bigger pool,” the sophomore said. “We have some great speed that we utilized today. We went to California and improved a lot; I think this goes to show how much we’ve improved.”

HARVARD 19, CONNECTICUT COLLEGE 2

In the first game of the doubleheader, Harvard was firing on all cylinders and topped the Camels by one of the largest margins of its season.

The Crimson raced to a six-point lead in the first period and didn’t relent, until a goal from freshman attacker Christy DiSilvestro put the team on top, 18-0. Connecticut College avoided being shut out with two fourth-period goals.

Eleven members of the Harvard squad scored in the team’s matchup with the Camels. Freshman attacker Shayna Price was a top performer for the squad in the early game.

The Honolulu, Hawaii, native tallied up three goals, two assists, and three steals.