Men’s Water Polo Falls to Concordia, Rebounds With Win Over Johns Hopkins at Bruno Invite

RV Harvard men’s water polo split its pair of games at the Bruno Invitational on Saturday, securing its third win of the season while dropping another to a late buzzer-beater. Concordia University, Irvine beat the Crimson 19-18 in the first match, but Harvard rebounded to record its first win in seven games by beating Johns Hopkins 17-13 to close the tournament.

The Crimson (3-9) traveled down to Providence, R.I., following a brutally competitive stretch of tournament weekends at the Aggie Classic and the Princeton Invitational. Seven of its previous losses have come from top-20 nationally ranked teams, several of which involved Harvard slipping in the fourth quarter of closely contested games.

Despite its grueling schedule, the Crimson have had many bright spots. Senior goalie Oliver Price secured a season-high 17 saves against No. 9 San Jose State, while freshman attacker Clay Carrington netted a career-high seven goals against No. 18 Navy.

Importantly, the Crimson has proved that it can compete with some of the best programs in the country. In the losses against the Spartans and No. 17 Santa Clara, Harvard had a one-goal differential heading into the third quarter before ultimately falling. Now, the team is working to maintain its rigor throughout games so it can tally some wins.

The Crimson will hope to carry its momentum from this weekend — including a nine-goal second quarter against Johns Hopkins — into Northeast Water Polo Conference play that begins next weekend.

“We still need to be better on the defensive side of the ball. I think we’re scoring a lot of goals, but we have to get stops,” Harvard’s head coach Ted Minnis said. “We have to get into our press a little bit better, and then consistently into our zone and deny that ball to center and get good in our shot box.”

Concordia 19, Harvard 18

After consecutive losses against three top-10 ranked Californian opponents at the Aggie Classic, Harvard sought to strike back at a Golden State foe in its first match against Concordia University, Irvine (7-6).

Twelve of the Crimson’s 16 players hail from the Golden State. The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, were the only non-East Coast team at the Bruno Invite.

Unfortunately for Harvard, a Concordia buzzer-beater secured a shocking 19-18 upset for the Division II school.

Junior attacker Dean Strauser led the Crimson’s scoring with four goals, followed by hat-tricks from Carrington, junior defender Tyler Hogan, and junior attacker Lukas Peabody. In net, freshman Jonas Ransford recorded nine saves.

The Golden Eagles jumped to an early lead, with two of its three goals coming from power-play conversions. Strauser responded, getting Harvard on the board with a penalty conversion of his own.

The pace slowed, as the teams’ respective defenses and goalies settled in. Ransford closed the quarter with four saves, doubling Concordia’s two.

Though Strauser scored again and Carrington tallied a quick goal off a power play, back-to-back possessions helped the Golden Eagles extend their lead to 5-3.

Harvard, meanwhile, struggled to capitalize on its shots and power plays. However, its defensive stops ultimately led to a combination play by the Sogaard-Srikrishnan brothers, senior Vilas and sophomore Emil, to find Peabody — who scored to close the half down 9-7.

Carrington completed his hat trick, but the Golden Eagles quickly responded with a 2-0 run to restore their two-goal lead. The Crimson got the last word of the third quarter, though, as Strauser converted to bring Harvard within one heading into the final quarter.

A back-and-forth dance ensued. Following three more goals from both the Crimson and Concordia, the game stalled at 16-16 midway through the fourth.

Harvard soon paused the music by forcing a turnover, though it struggled to convert the resulting power play. Concordia reclaimed the lead on transition within a few seconds.

The power plays haunted the Crimson again. Down two players, the Golden Eagles still forced Harvard to launch a critical shot wide with just two minutes left on the clock.

With 40 seconds remaining, the Crimson’s patient rotation of the ball was rewarded, as Peabody wrapped around the post to tie the game at 18-18.

But the Golden Eagles soared at the buzzer, coming out of a timeout with 2.3 seconds remaining and slotting the ball down the middle of the net for the dagger.

“I don’t think either team was getting stopped. It was who was going to score last, and they ended up scoring last through a little breakdown on defense on their seven-on-six. We left someone open who got the shot off and beat our goalie,” Minnis said after the game. “We needed to string together some stops and not trade goals, and we need to be better at doing that.”

Harvard 17, RV Johns Hopkins 13

Harvard redeemed itself in its second match as it overpowered John Hopkins (8-3), snapping its seven-game losing streak in its first clash against the Blue Jays since 2014.

The Crimson outscored Johns Hopkins — which won its morning match against MIT — 9-1 in the second quarter, before the Blue Jays recovered and went on a 5-1 run in the third. Ultimately, Harvard held firm in the fourth to secure a 17-13 victory, snapping its opponents’ three-game win streak.

Senior utility Jack Burghardt, who led the scoring with his five goals, tallied the first of the game, but the Blue Jays — ranked third in Division III — quickly caught up, staying neck and neck with Harvard despite strong outside shots from sophomore attacker Connor Kim.

The Crimson fell behind by two at the end of the first quarter, as Johns Hopkins went on a three-goal run in the final minute and a half. Five different Blue Jays scored in the opening frame.

Harvard started the second quarter with a clean penalty goal by Strauser, shifting the game’s momentum. A few poor shots by Johns Hopkins enabled Kim to tie it at 5-5.

The Blue Jays scored their one and only goal of the quarter before the Crimson found its rhythm on the transition play, converting on several power plays. Eight different players scored in Harvard’s nine-goal eruption, seizing a commanding 12-6 lead.

“We pressed well, and they were pressing us, and we got out of the transition,” Minnis said. “We scored some maybe three on twos and some penalties from our transition out of our press.”

In the third quarter, Johns Hopkins responded to the Crimson, scoring three consecutive goals to cut the deficit to three. Harvard’s offense stalled as the Blue Jays pushed forward on the transition until Burghardt scored the Crimson’s lone goal of the quarter, bringing the score to 13-11.

“Third quarter, they shifted into a zone, and we made some poor passes in the zone,” Minnis said. “We didn’t finish off our defensive possessions in our press. We have to be more consistent there, and they got a nice little run. We tightened it up again in the fourth quarter.”

Harvard returned strong in the final quarter, making up for its lack of points in the third by scooping up the first two goals and forcing Johns Hopkins to take a timeout.

Strauser extended his team’s lead to five shortly midway through the quarter, while the Crimson stalled for the next three minutes to keep the ball out of the Blue Jays’ hands.

Johns Hopkins responded by scoring two goals, trimming its deficit to three and prompting Minnis to take a timeout.

Closing the door on a prospective comeback, Peabody wound the ball past two defenders and scored the game’s final goal to seal Harvard’s 17-13 victory.

The Crimson will kick off NWPC play next weekend on a three-game road trip, facing off against Long Island, Iona, and No. 10 Princeton — the reigning conference tournament champion, which beat Harvard in last year’s NWPC final.

“We need to continue to focus on the defensive side of the ball. We have to get stops,” Minnis said. “In the first round of conference, it’s going to be a little tough because two of those pools are shallow-deep, so it changes how the game is played.”

“And then we have Princeton, so we can’t make any excuses. We have to deal with what’s ahead of us, and work hard on defense, get stops. This team has proven they can score at any given time from anywhere, so we just have to really be focused and not be on the defensive side of the ball,” the coach added.

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.

—Staff writer Alexa M. Schmitt can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at alexaschmitt.15. Follow her on X ​​@alexa_m15_s.