W. Water Polo Tops Brown For Fifth at Easterns

For the second consecutive year, the Harvard women’s water polo team brought home a fifth-place finish at the Eastern Championships in Bloomington, Ind.

Last year, the Crimson, which entered Easterns as the No. 10 seed, pulled off a string of upsets, jumping up five spots by the tournament’s close—a performance that allowed Harvard to sneak into the final national top-20 poll of the 2004 season.

This year, the field was cut from 12 to eight and the Crimson gained entrance as one of the two wild cards, since it failed to place first or second at Northerns.

“The competition in every game was much better this season, because last year everyone had at least one easier game,” junior two-meter Molly Mehaffey said.

The Crimson held its ground in this year’s championships, entering the tournament seeded fifth and taking two of three contests to maintain that position.

1ST PLACE: MICHIGAN 8, INDIANA 7

The title bout saw the 2002 and 2003 winners (Michigan and Indiana, respectively) square off in a back-and-forth match with an NCAA tournament berth on the line.

The Wolverines held two-goal leads on three separate occasions in the first half, including a 5-3 advantage at the intermission.

But the Hoosiers found the net twice in the third to bring the score even at five heading into the final quarter.

Michigan jumped back out to a two-goal lead, 7-5, early in the fourth, but Indiana responded with two of its own to pull even.

With 1:48 left, the Wolverines capitalized on a 6-on-5 opportunity to go up 8-7 and take the title for the first time in three years.

3RD PLACE: HARTWICK 11, PRINCETON 4

The Hawks took a tight contest at the half and blew it wide open with a six-goal third quarter to lock up third place in Easterns.

Hartwick led 4-1 after one period of play, but the Tigers chipped away with two goals in the second to get within one, 4-3. But just one quarter later, Princeton found itself down seven as it lost its fifth consecutive final-round game.

5TH PLACE: HARVARD 6, BROWN 5

A 4-0 second-half run by the Crimson ensured that all seeds five through eight would finish in exactly the same place that they started.

Trailing 5-2 at the break, Harvard held the Bears scoreless throughout the rest of the contest, while adding four goals of its own to take home fifth place in the tournament and finish the season with a 4-2 record against Brown.

“They had a lot of confidence coming into the second half, but we just picked it up more,” Mehaffey said. “We always get that extra motivation toward the end of games.”

Mehaffey recorded two tallies, while seniors Teresa and Cristina Codini added one apiece.

Teresa Codini was named to the All-Tournament Second Team—the only Crimson player to be named to the squad.

7TH PLACE: BUCKNELL 10, GW 5

Leading 4-3 at the break, the Bison scored four unanswered goals in the third period to dispatch with the Colonials and claim seventh place.

Meagan Gins keyed the Bucknell victory, leading the squad with three tallies.

SEMIFINALS NO. 1 INDIANA 7, NO. 4 HARTWICK 6

A year after watching Hartwick pull off a two-goal, fourth-quarter comeback to top Indiana in the semis, the Hoosiers got their revenge recording three of the final four tallies of the contest to slip past the Hawks 7-6 and advance to the Eastern finals.

Indiana jumped out to a 3-1 lead early in the second quarter, but Hartwick scored the final two goals of the half and added another tally just a minute into the third period to take its first lead of the contest, 4-3.

Kandace Waldthaler, who recorded her second three-goal game of the tournament, scored with 1:03 remaining in the third to reclaim the lead 6-5 and the Hoosiers would never trail again.

NO. 2 MICHIGAN 8, NO. 3 PRINCETON 3

The Wolverines jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never let the Tigers get closer than three, as Michigan advanced to the final for the second straight season and the third time in four years.

Princeton scored the final goal of the first half and started off the scoring in the second to bring the count to 5-2, but the Wolverines scored the next three goals to ice the contest.

CONSOLATION BRACKET NO. 6 BROWN 6, NO. 7 BUCKNELL 5

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in their opening game only to fall to Princeton, the Bears returned the favor in the opening round of the consolation bracket, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Bison 6-5 in the first sudden-death overtime.

Brown scored twice in the second quarter to even the score heading into the intermission, and both teams traded goals in the third and fourth to bring the count to 4-4 at the end of regulation.

The Bears struck first in the opening overtime period, but Bucknell responded in the second to force a sudden death overtime session.

With just 27 seconds remaining in the first sudden-death frame, Elizabeth Balassone put a shot past Bucknell goalie Mandy Bynum to send Brown to the fifth-place game against Harvard.

NO. 5 HARVARD 8, NO. 8 GW 7

The Crimson claimed three-goal advantages on two separate occasions, but needed two defensive stands in the final minute to advance to the fifth-place game.

“GW doesn’t play as physical a game as Hartwick, so it was hard to adjust all of a sudden,” Mehaffey said. “They didn’t force us to play hard on defense, but we picked it up when it mattered.”

Harvard took a 3-2 lead into the second period and added two straight tallies to bump its lead up to three. The Colonials recorded the final goal of the half to bring the score to 5-3.

George Washington opened the third quarter with two goals to tie the score, but junior driver Arin Keyser found the net with 0:47 left in the period to give Harvard a 6-5 lead heading into the fourth.

The Crimson scored the first two goals of the quarter to regain its three-goal advantage, but the Colonials chipped away in the game’s closing minutes, pulling within one but failing to convert on two opportunities to bring the match even once again.

Teresa Codini led Harvard with three goals.

FIRST ROUND NO. 3 PRINCETON 10, NO. 6 BROWN 6

The Tigers had to dig out of an early 2-0 hole to ensure that all four higher seeds would advance to semifinal round.

After Brown scored two quick goals to open up the match, Princeton netted two of its own to bring the score even heading into the second and then added three more before halftime to take a 5-2 lead into the break.

The Tigers’ offense kept churning along in the third, finding the net four more times to open up a 9-4 lead heading into the game’s final quarter.

NO. 2 MICHIGAN 7, NO. 7 BUCKNELL 1

The Wolverines held the Bison scoreless for nearly three quarters, as Michigan easily advanced to the semifinals with a 7-1 win over Bucknell in the third game of the tournament.

The Wolverines tallied three goals in the first and added another before halftime to take a 4-0 lead into the half. Michigan would extend its lead to 6-0 before the Bison finally got on the board with 0:43 left in the third.

NO. 4 HARTWICK 10, NO. 5 HARVARD 3

After dropping two lopsided matches to the Hawks earlier this season, the Crimson had a bit of success early in its opening match, trailing just 3-2 after one period of play.

Harvard kept up its strong play in the second quarter as well, holding Hartwick to one goal to stay within two of the Hawks at the half.

“As compared to our two previous games against them, our performance [in this contest] was great,” Mehaffey said. “We showed such an improvement, and I’m pleased with how we did.”

But a three-goal third period gave Hartwick some breathing room, as the Crimson could only muster one of its own.

Freshman driver Vivian Liao led Harvard with two goals, while Mehaffey added one.

NO. 1 INDIANA 11, NO. 8 GW 4

The top-seeded Hoosiers fell behind 1-0 early in the first period, but answered with five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead into halftime and cruise into the semifinals Saturday morning.

The Colonials got on the board twice in the third, but Indiana matched it for a 7-3 advantage heading into the game’s final quarter. The Hoosiers tacked on four more goals in the fourth to close out the victory in the tournament’s opening game.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.