W. Water Polo Places Seventh at Easterns to Close out Season

The Harvard women’s water polo team ended its 2002 campaign with a 2-2 record, good for seventh place, at the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Eastern Championships in Princeton, N.J. last weekend.

Harvard (14-12), the No. 6 seed, began with a 9-6 loss to No. 3 Princeton on Friday before rebounding with a 6-4 victory over tenth-seeded Bucknell to finish “Bracket D” competition in second place.

The Crimson then advanced to the second round, where it came up short against rival UMass-Amherst in a tough 7-5 decision. However, Harvard bounced back once again, this time defeating No. 8 George Washington 8-2.

“It was a good tournament, and we played very well as a group,” Harvard Coach Jim Floerchinger said. “We were capable of beating all of the teams we played, and there were five or six teams that could’ve won the tournament. That sort of parity is fun.”

With a very young nucleus and only two seniors on this year’s team, both Floerchinger and his players are optimistic for the future of the Crimson program.

“The core of this team is pretty young,” he said. “It’s encouraging to return both of our all-league players.”

“We’re looking really strong,” added junior Tiana Peterson. “We have a strong freshman class, and we gained lots of experience at this tournament. We have a lot of talent, and we’re really psyched about our potential.”

If the Crimson had come out on top of what was billed as a very competitive 12-team field, Harvard would have made the NCAA Final Four in Los Angeles, Calif., with an automatic bid.

That honor, however, went to top-seeded Michigan. No. 2 Hartwick took the Wolverines to sudden-death overtime in the championship game before Michigan’s Jen Crisman scored with 31 seconds left, giving the Wolverines the 7-6 win and their first-ever trip to the Final Four.

Harvard 8, George Washington 2

Freshman twins Teresa and Tina Codini combined for five goals in Sunday’s game against the Colonials, providing plenty of support for sophomore goalie Elana Miller and the rest of the Crimson defense.

Harvard’s two seniors, co-captain Christine Meiers and Jill Ono, each scored goals in their final collegiate game.

“The best performances came from our seniors,” Peterson said. “This was their last tournament, and Christine and Jill played great. It was great to see.”

Junior Jane Humphries rounded out the scoring for Harvard with her third goal of the weekend.

Miller stopped eight shots in the victory and did not allow a goal in the flow of play. The Colonials fell behind 8-0 before converting two penalty shots in the fourth quarter.

UMass-Amherst 7, Harvard 5

In the last game on Saturday night and quite possibly the last women’s water polo game ever between the two schools, the Minutewomen prevailed to earn a spot in the fifth-place game against Brown.

With financial concerns forcing the UMass athletic department to cut women’s water polo next year, the Minutewomen played with a sense of urgency all weekend and nearly upset Hartwick in the first game of the tournament before falling in overtime, 6-5.

Floerchinger said that carried over to their game against the Crimson.

“They had something extra going for them,” he said of UMass. “They definitely had some emotion on their side.”

Peterson agreed.

“After that game, we had to hand it to them,” she said. “They played with a ton of spirit and heart. After their last game, they were all tears and hugs. We really felt for them because no one would want that to happen to their program.”

Harvard and UMass had met in three very close games earlier in the season, with the Crimson taking two.

“We were disappointed to lose to UMass because we had beaten them before, but they played their best water polo of the year,” Floerchinger said. “We are two closely-matched teams, and this time they just had more points at the end of the game. We had the intensity, but we had to score more than we did.”

Meiers notched a hat trick and Cristina Codini continued her strong play with two goals.

UMass went on to defeat the Bears, 6-5, yesterday

Harvard 6, Bucknell 4

The Crimson rebounded from a loss in its first game of the tournament with a win over the tenth-seeded Bison.

Peterson, an ECAC All-Tournament selection, and Teresa Codini each scored twice for Harvard, while Humphries tallied her second goal of the weekend.

Cristina Codini continued her scoring streak with a goal.

Princeton 9, Harvard 6

The Codini twins—who shared the team scoring lead on the weekend with seven tallies apiece—catalyzed the Harvard offense once again, as each scored twice. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome the host Tigers (23-11) on Friday.

A hat trick from Adele McCarthy-Beauvais and two goals each from senior Cassandra Nichols and junior Jennifer Edwards gave Princeton its second win over Harvard this season.

The Tigers, who finished their season with an 11-10 loss to Indiana in the third-place game, also defeated the Crimson at the Brown Invitational on March 2 by a 14-7 score.

Humphries and freshman Stephanie Frias rounded out the scoring for Harvard with one goal apiece.