W. Water Polo Nabs Third at ECAC Championships

The women’s water polo team took third place at the ECAC championships this weekend at Kinney Natatorium on the campus of Bucknell University in Lewisberg, Pa. After a 2-2 West Coast trip, Harvard continued its hectic schedule of eight games in 10 days seeded third in the ECAC championship, facing Wagner (12-7), Princeton (21-7), and Brown (9-9).

After narrowly defeating Wagner in its opening round matchup, the Crimson (12-6) fell to a tough Princeton team in the second round. But yesterday, Harvard bounced back, defeating Brown to claim third place.

“I think whenever you go in a tournament like that your goal is to make it into the medal games,” junior Molly Mehaffey said. “A strong showing against Brown, playing great team defense, taking better shots, and being more on our game were all great accomplishments for this weekend.”

Princeton went on to defeat No. 15 Hartwick (18-8), the defending champion and tournament favorite, 7-6 to claim the ECAC title.

HARVARD 7, BROWN 5

Yesterday, the Crimson played Brown in the third-place matchup in the third meeting of the two squads this season. Each team had managed a win in the first two games of the season series.

This time, despite grabbing a quick 2-1 lead in the first quarter, the Bears could not contain the Crimson, as Harvard netted three goals in the second to make it 4-2 and take Brown mentally out of the game. The Crimson played tough in the second half and went on to win 7-5.

“They are kind of our perennial rivals,” senior Stephanie Lee said. “I think this is a really good beginning to our postseason.”

PRINCETON 7, HARVARD 3

Princeton, ranked No. 16 in the nation, had handily beaten Villanova to move into the semifinal matchup against Harvard. The game was a defensive battle for much of the first half, with Princeton going into halftime with a slim 3-1 advantage.

In the second half, the Tigers picked up the intensity and scored three unanswered goals in the third quarter to extend their lead 6-1 and put the game out of reach for the Crimson.

Despite solid defense and tough playing, drawing nine ejections to Princeton’s five, the Crimson offense managed only 14 shots and couldn’t seem to finish.

“We did some things that were just excellent,” Mehaffey said, “we played great team defense, we made opportunities for ourselves, but the ball was just not finding the cage.”

HARVARD 9, WAGNER 8

Early Saturday morning, the Crimson eked out a 9-8 victory over the sixth-seeded Seahawks to avenge last season’s ECAC championship loss. In 2004, Harvard had beaten Wagner 9-6 to open the season, but the ever-dangerous Seahawks managed to defeat Harvard 5-4 in the ECACs.

This time, the Crimson led the entire way and fought off a late-game comeback by Wagner to hold on for the victory. Harvard led 8-4 going into the final quarter, but Wagner pushed the score to 9-7, taking advantage of several man-up opportunities. Harvard’s defense tightened and despite last second heroics by the Seahawks—scoring with just 19 seconds remaining—the Crimson prevailed.

“We managed that change [from spring break to competition] far better this year,” Mehaffey said. “Last year we should have beaten them and this year we made sure that happened.”

The win moved the Crimson into a second round match-up with the second seed Princeton.

Harvard will be back in action April 9 against Connecticut College before a rematch with Brown later that day in Providence, R.I.

“These are last league games before the championships,” said Lee, “a good time to get the last kinks out and show Brown that we can beat them in their own pool.”