Harvard Women’s Water Polo Season Ends With NCAA Quarterfinal Loss to UCLA

No. 7 Harvard women’s water polo (26-4, 5-1 CWPA) fell to No. 2 UCLA (21-4, 4-2 MPSF) in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament, ending yet another historic season for the Crimson.

After winning the CWPA Championship for the second year in a row and the second time in program history, Harvard earned the seventh seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re really proud of the work that it took to get there and play such a competitive team,” captain Ella Schneider said.

Ultimately, however, the Crimson could not keep up with the Bruins’ fast-paced play. Despite falling 15-4 to UCLA a little more than a month ago in its stretch of California competition, Harvard still could not adjust to the Bruins’ shocking speed in their second meeting.

Following solid, opening defensive efforts from both teams, UCLA claimed the first point of the match nearly three minutes in.

The Bruins then managed to intercept a pass and break away down the pool, but Harvard diligently pursued and overwhelmed the attacker. Despite the Crimson’s best efforts, though, not even three defenders could prevent UCLA from tallying its second goal.

An offensive turnover gave Harvard two possessions, but the Crimson seemed plagued by missed shots.

Senior utility Heidi Heffelfinger finally broke the spell by executing a powerful, angled throw to scratch Harvard onto the scoreboard.

The Bruins immediately responded, finding success again off a quick assist and shot right in front of the Crimson goal.

Harvard’s offense struggled to get within firing range of UCLA’s goal. On the other end of the pool, however, the Bruins were heavily concentrated at the net, relentlessly pressing in on the Crimson’s defense.

“We really wanted to shut down the center of the pool,” Schneider said. “They have a really strong center player, and we wanted to shut her down and then work out.”

The Bruins intercepted a long-distance Harvard pass with 45 seconds left in the quarter and promptly converted it to establish a comfortable 4-1 lead.

However, Heffelfinger secured the final word of the quarter with another cross-goal shot, closing the Crimson’s deficit to two at the buzzer.

Harvard snatched up the first possession of the second quarter, but could not convert despite a six-on-five advantage. UCLA’s ensuing shot, to the Crimson’s disdain, caught the hands of a defender and barely slipped past the goalline before it could be recovered.

Junior attacker Maya O’Dea answered, slamming the ball off the water and into the goal in another power play situation. Unfortunately for Harvard, the Bruins seemed unfazed by the Crimson’s goal, tallying two more points thanks to their fast ball movement and another close-range shot.

“I think we were doing all the right things, we just maybe were a second too slow to hit them, a second too slow to crash the ball on the center,” Heffelfinger said.

A pair of turnovers ensued, eventually handing possession back to Harvard. However, UCLA’s defense reacted quickly to an up-close attempt and shut it down. The Bruins continued to outpace the Crimson in transition, opening up lots of space in the goal for another mid-distance point and bringing the score to 8-3.

With less than a minute remaining in the quarter, Cooper thwarted an offensive attempt by UCLA, but Harvard failed to find an open shot before the half expired.

Early in the third quarter, the Bruins tripled the Crimson’s score, 9-3, by ripping a shot into the upper net. The Crimson defense could not hold its opponent back, and UCLA scored again with a skillful throw into a small opening.

Harvard called a quick timeout after earning a six-on-five opportunity, but missed wide on its resulting shot.

Exactly halfway through the quarter, though, Crimson sophomore defender Niki Piovan delivered on a mid-distance goal straight out of transition before the Bruins’ defense could move in.

UCLA scored again, but a Bruin was removed from the game following illegal contact after the point.

The Crimson proved helpless in stopping UCLA as the team continually strung together several points in a row throughout the match and tallied another with 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Harvard found success in a seven-on-six play at the end of the quarter, executed by freshman utility Lucy Levenberg-Penklis.

In the first 30 seconds of the final quarter, UCLA performed a swift, effortless assist-to-tip to extend its lead to a daunting 13-5.

The Bruins’ speed, explosiveness, and variety of plays left the Crimson’s defense little time to react. At the other end of the pool, Harvard was held far from its opponent’s goal and ran out the shot clock with no viable options.

The fourth and final period was relatively uneventful, with UCLA scoring only once more. Minnis subbed in senior goalie Sutchie Ofori-Nyako, who contributed two crucial saves at the end of the quarter to quell UCLA’s scoring.

“We decided we were going to try to take away the center play as much as we could, not let them get easy exclusions or penalties out of the middle,” Minnis said.

However, on the offensive end, the Crimson continued to miss its shots in the face of the Bruins’ suffocating defense. The buzzer sounded, concluding Harvard’s season with a resolute, 15-5 victory for UCLA.

“We missed some opportunities, some six-on-fives that we could have put away,” Minnis said. “But I was very proud of the way they played, and they never backed down. They battled through the whole game.”

—Staff writer Bennett Trubey can be reached at [email protected].