Women’s Water Polo Beats Princeton in Longest Match in NCAA History

inning once is hard. Winning again is harder, especially when that battle extends into sudden-death play with the conference title and an NCAA Tournament bid on the line.

After nearly a match and a half of continuous play – 32 minutes of regulation and almost 18 minutes of added time – a Princeton attacker wound up for a shot. As with every shot delivered during both overtimes and the three prior sudden-death periods, the crowd held its breath.

Could this be the golden moment?

Harvard’s sophomore goalkeeper – and the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player – Orli Cooper snatched the ball just before it crossed the goal line.

The Crimson then charged down the pool, showing little exhaustion.

Before the Tigers could settle into their places on defense, captain utility Ella Schneider pulled her arm back and sent the ball into the goal, causing Harvard’s bench to erupt in celebration.

However, it took a lot more than one possession for the Crimson to secure the win. It took four eight-minute quarters, two three-minute overtime periods, and almost four three-minute sudden deaths. Even before the College Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship Match began, it took a season built on strategy and execution.

After winning its first-ever conference title in 2025, Harvard set its sights on conference dominance once again. The Crimson recorded a stellar 12-0 start to its campaign, but its hopes for an undefeated season were dashed in an unexpected, 14-13 loss to the University of Michigan at the start of conference play. Harvard bounced back immediately and later closed out regular season play with a victory over Brown to secure the program’s first No. 1 seed heading into the CWPA Tournament.

This led to another matchup with the Bears in the semifinals. Brown proved itself a tougher opponent this time around – the teams sat tied at 7-7 after regulation. However, the Crimson pulled away for a decisive 11-8 win in double overtime.

On the other side of the bracket, Michigan faced off against Princeton, and the Tigers advanced to the finals.

History was not on Harvard’s side for the championship. Although the Crimson had won the last two contests between the rivals, the Tigers boast a 47-19 all-time record over Harvard.

“We were pretty prepared, I felt. I don’t think they ran anything towards us that we weren’t ready for; it was just a matter of us executing,” said head coach Ted Minnis.

At the start of the match, senior utility Heidi Heffelfinger executed a quick goal to kick-start the Crimson’s momentum, scoring off an assist from sophomore defender Niki Piovan.

“Heidi’s first goal was huge, because I think that set the tone,” Minnis said. “She hit that goal and allowed us to settle in, know we were going to be able to score, and really focus on getting stops.”

Princeton responded with force, notching three goals while holding Harvard to its singular point.

In the second quarter, Heffelfinger scored off another pass from Piovan, but not before dishing an assist to junior attacker Maya O’Dea. Then, Piovan added one of her own, but the Tigers rallied to put two more points on the board, closing the half with a 5-4 lead.

During halftime, the Crimson remained patient and returned to what it knows best.

“We were talking a lot about defense. Defense is always our first go-to, and I feel like it’s really easy to have a third-quarter slip,” assistant coach Zoe Banks said. “Offense was not the focus at that point. Knowing that we were down, we needed to get stops, and that was going to feed our momentum on offense.”

Harvard’s defensive focus paid off, as an early third-quarter save by Cooper allowed O’Dea to even the score. On the Crimson’s next possession, freshman center Petra Klemm reclaimed the lead.

Princeton could not score in the third quarter, its offensive efforts smothered by Harvard’s renewed defense, especially during exclusions. The Tigers did not convert on any of their seven power plays.

“I thought our five-on-six was great, and I think that was a huge piece,” Minnis said. “They didn’t get those extra goals; we talked about that all year. We’re good when it’s six on six; we have to not let teams beat us when it’s five on six.”

Princeton entered the fourth quarter with a vengeance, scoring in the first minute to even the score at six.

O’Dea responded, taking the lead and a hat trick off a penalty shot.

“We were also realizing that we were finding success in early offense and really getting down the pool,” O’Dea said. “We realized we were faster than Princeton, or we felt that we were in better shape, so we were like ‘Okay, we need to capitalize on that and start making things happen, because when we get down the pool, we are successful.’”

In the dwindling minutes of the period, however, the Tigers matched the Crimson’s pace and scored.

With just 20 seconds remaining on the clock, the officials gave Princeton a penalty shot. The opportunity, if successful, would have put the Tigers ahead of Harvard, leaving the Crimson scrambling for a last-second goal.

However, Cooper deftly denied the attempt, sending the match into overtime at 7-7.

“That was honestly our biggest savior moment. I mean, that’s why she’s MVP, because she really had our backs,” O’Dea said.

“There was a lot of emotion going on, so I was trying to fire everyone up, and I got out, and I was yelling, I was like, ‘they’re not going to score again,’” Cooper said. “Once it went into overtime, at least for me, I was confident. I was like, ‘Guys, this is our thing, we go into overtime, and then we win overtime.’ That’s what we’ve done every single other time in the past.”

As regulation time expired, Harvard began its fourth-straight overtime CWPA Tournament match.

“You have to be even more mentally strong. So many of us – excluding the freshmen, but all the rest of us – had already played a semifinal overtime game and a championship overtime game last year and found success in those. I think we were all super mentally prepared for that,” Heffelfinger said.

Neither Harvard nor Princeton could have anticipated just how long the match would take.

With the score unchanged after two overtimes, the sudden-death, or golden goal, periods began.

“Every time we were playing defense during golden goal, you’re obviously quite stressed because the game could end at any moment,” Cooper said. “But at the same time, those are my favorite kinds of games, so I was also just thrilled. I was really happy to be playing in that game. It was just a sense of excitement, of all the adrenaline going and the focus.”

The Crimson’s defense, bolstered by Cooper’s 18 saves, kept a level head, anticipating rather than panicking.

“We talk a lot about railroad tracks versus a road map. We gave them a road map. They didn’t sit on railroad tracks,” Banks said, praising Harvard’s defensive effort. “They were being dynamic and responding well to everything that Princeton was throwing at us, and then it was just a matter of connecting on the offensive side.”

As sudden-death periods racked up, so did their toll. Two key Crimson players – Heffelfinger and junior attacker Lily Britt – and one Tiger fouled out, straining the already-exhausted rotations.

“In these overtimes, everyone really stepped into their role. Lily won the sprints, and Orli made the blocks, obviously, and the rest of us just came together and played our role,” O’Dea reflected. “That’s how, at the end of the day, we kept each other going.”

“We all knew we had to win and we wanted to win so badly,” Heffelfinger said.

“Every time they’d shoot it, your heart drops, and every time we’d shoot it, your heart drops. You’re just watching this back-and-forth, waiting for something,” the senior added.

Contributing to the rollercoaster of emotions, Princeton’s goalkeeper seemed almost as impassable as Cooper. She continued to reject shot after shot, limiting the Crimson’s options and extending the match.

“We weren’t ever scared to shoot on her, even if we were getting blocked. We just kept pushing forward in our shots and really looking to switch it up,” Banks said of Harvard’s offensive strategy. “But definitely there was one specific shot we talked a lot about, and it was a near-side skip.”

After nearly 18 scoreless minutes, it was the near-side skip – sent by Schneider – that won it.

“I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to win it eventually,” Klemm said. “But I was in center, under the water, no clue what was going on. And when I came back up, I looked back, and the ball was in the goal.”

What followed was relief and excitement.

“Everyone swimming to Ella, hugging in the water, the coaches jumping in – I think that was really special,” the rookie said. “Watching them win last year and then now experiencing it, I think that’s just so awesome.”

“Looking back on the game, I just remember a lot of small moments,” Cooper said. “All of these small moments inspire me every time, just seeing people give the effort and the joy. I don’t know, I feel like it doesn’t need to be a big moment, just playing the game at all with these girls inspires me.”

A record-breaking 2025 season was a tough act to follow, but Harvard backed it up with yet another historic conference title in a gritty, hard – and long – fought victory. The contest, and the Crimson’s victory, will go down in the NCAA’s record books as the longest collegiate women’s water polo match to date.

The team will return most of its promising, young roster in hopes of claiming the CWPA title for the third consecutive year.

“I know I’m leaving, and I’m so glad we won last year and this year. Next year, I want them to win, and I want there to be no overtimes,” Heffelfinger joked.

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