Undefeated W. Water Polo Edges Brown, 6-5

Defense may win championships, but apparently it also wins water polo games.

The Harvard women's water polo team remained undefeated by pulling out a 6-5 victory last night against Brown University, relying primarily on its most solid defensive outing of the season.

If playing another Ivy League squad in its home pool in front of what freshman Liz Anderson described as a "rowdy crowd" did not provide the Crimson (5-0) sufficient motivation, Brown's status as one of Harvard's strongest competitors certainly inspired the Crimson to be ready to play.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, however, it had begun training later than most other teams and thus had significantly fewer games under its belt heading into the contest. As a result, Harvard found itself initially unable to cope with the team speed, quick reactions, and anticipation of the Bears (9-5) and gave up two counter-attack, breakaway goals before the first quarter came to a close.

Taking advantage of the break between periods to regroup and settle themselves, the Harvard players did not need much of the second quarter to eliminate Brown's lead. An lob from the outside by sophomore Tiana Peterson put the Crimson on the scoreboard. Shortly thereafter, Leah Kaminski fired a bullet from the perimeter into the top corner of the net to even the game.

After a Brown tally pushed the Bears ahead again, captain Jesse Gunderson brought the Crimson roaring back with two gritty goals. Brown was clearly worried about Gunderson, who was setting hole, as it employed a defense in which its perimeter players would drop down to double team her. As a result, it was difficult for the Harvard players to get her the ball. Frequently, they simply resorted to shooting from the perimeter. When they did incorporate Gunderson into the offense, however, results followed.

Unable to use finesse to beat her defenders, Gunderson twice just "stuffed [the ball] into the goal," according to her co-captain Natasha Magnuson. In doing so, Magnuson added, "she made a play where one didn't previously exist."

Following Gunderson's goals, Brown was able to tie the score at four, but early in the third quarter, Peterson "just drove in and, out of nowhere, got up and scored," Magnuson said.

The goal nudged Harvard into the lead, but Brown soon clawed its way back to 5-5. Midway through the fourth quarter, though, Gunderson regained the lead for the Crimson with her third goal of the night.

The Bears, becoming increasingly desparate, began to attack the Crimson goal furiously. With a minute and a half left, junior goalie Danielle McCarthy came up with a game-saving sequence of stops in a scramble in front of her net.

Then, with 36 seconds remaining, Harvard thought it would just have to run out its 35-second shot clock and escape with the victory. However, the Crimson lost the ball with less than five seconds on the clock and a Brown player began streaking towards McCarthy. Just as she was about to shoot, however, Magnuson came out of nowhere to pressure her as time ran out, allowing Harvard to preserve its undefeated record.

While the offense scored just enough to win, the contest was the Crimson's "best defensive game I remember," according to McCarthy. Brown did not even get off a shot from the hole set, with all its goals coming from the perimeter and on breakaways.

After playing Brown in a rematch next weekend, Harvard will not have long to rest before taking on Connecticut College and the University of Massachusetts later in the day.

With fewer games this season as a result of the sport's recent move to NCAA status, Harvard needs to beat both Brown and Massachusetts to be considered the top team in the east and gain the region's automatic berth in the ECAC championships.

"If we can establish ourselves as a team that's going to win from the beginning, it betters our chances each time we meet up with [the league's upper echelon teams] again," Gunderson said.

Certainly, this win over Brown can serve as the first step towards accomplishing that goal.