Men's Water Polo

After falling to MIT, the Harvard men's water polo team rallied for two victories and a fifth-place finish—but found itself once again on the outside looking in.

The Harvard men’s water polo team dropped back-to-back games at home this weekend. On Saturday, in the conference final against Fordham, the Crimson (5-16, 3-3 CWPA) lost 12-7. Less than 24 hours later, Harvard was in the pool again to face St. Francis College (10-3) in the last game before the CWPA Northern Division Championships on Nov. 7. The Crimson hung tight with a dominant Terriers team throughout the first half, but was ultimately blown away, 18-10.

Take a look at the Harvard men’s water polo team’s lineup and something clearly stands out–other than a few players from Eastern Europe or New England, the Crimson’s roster is remarkably dominated by Californians. “There’s something about the team, the fact that most of us have the shared experience of not being from east coast places,” goalie Nikhil Balaraman said. “We can commiserate in the snow and all that terrible stuff that none of us had seen before.” Balaraman is a senior originally from the San Diego area, who despite the drastic change in weather, has established himself as an important part of the water polo team here at Harvard.

Everyone loves a comeback story, but unfortunately for the Harvard men’s water polo team, this weekend didn’t have such a happy ending. The Crimson (5-14, CWPA Northern Division 3-2) fell to Brown (9-6, 3-2) and Iona (5-11, 3-1) in a pair of conference matches at Blodgett Pool Saturday and Sunday afternoon. In both games, Harvard recovered from early setbacks with good team and individual play, but this was not enough to capture a win. After suffering a 15-8 loss against the Bears, the Crimson came up short against the Gaels, losing 14-11.