Harvard Falls in Final to Tigers

Harvard fell to Princeton, 7-5, yesterday in the final of the Ivy League Invitational women’s water polo tournament, finishing second among the six teams present.

The Crimson was placed in a bracket with club teams Columbia and Dartmouth and defeated them by scores of 14-3 and 13-0, respectively.

In the semi-finals of the tournament, Harvard, the defending champion, beat Penn 9-6 to set up a title showdown with the Tigers.

Despite not being able to repeat as champions, the team still felt confident about its performance.

“This is another good starting tournament for us,” captain driver Arin Keyser said. “League play in March and April are when it really counts.”

PRINCETON 7, HARVARD 5

Princeton, ranked No. 17 in the College Water Polo Association poll, jumped out to an early lead and kept its distance from the Crimson throughout to hold on to the win and capture the tournament title.

The Tigers scored the first three goals of the game and took a 5-1 lead into halftime.

“We made mistakes early when we fell into that 3-0 hole,” Harvard coach Eric Farrar said. “We had to chip our way out of it. We had our opportunities to come back, but we didn’t capitalize on 6-5 chances.”

Sophomore driver Vivian Liao scored twice to lead the Crimson, which played much better as the game went on.

“We shut them out in the fourth quarter,” Keyser said. “We came on strong in the end but kind of ran out of time.”

As Princeton is one of only three Ivy teams with a varsity squad, along with Harvard and Brown, the Crimson’s matchups with the Tigers are often among the most important of the season.

The two teams will probably meet again at the ECAC Championships on the first week of April.

“We always play Princeton much worse in our first meetings of the year,” senior goaltender Lydia Gardner said. “But today we kept it close.”

Farrar is optimistic about the potential rematch.

“We have the talent to take them down,” he said. “They played better than we did today, so they won. I have a feeling we will see them again.

“The entire season is about being there at the end,” Gardner added.

HARVARD 9, PENN 6

Harvard took its first game yesterday with ease, jumping out to a 7-0 lead and cruising the rest of the way. Penn failed to score in the first half.

Senior Molly Mehaffey scored three goals and sophomores Stefanie Wilson and Lauren Snyder each scored twice.

Despite falling behind, 7-0, Penn was the strongest of the three club teams that the Crimson battled.

“Penn is a lot stronger this year than in the past,” Keyser said.

HARVARD 13, DARTMOUTH 0

Gardner and freshman Nicola Pearlman combined on a shut-out in net and the Harvard was on fire as Dartmouth was blown out. Snyder and Keyser scored three goals each, while Liao and sophomore driver Brittney Lane scored twice. The win clinched for the Crimson the top spot of Group B.

HARVARD 14, COLUMBIA 3

Harvard opened the tournament the right way, swimming all over the Lions. Mehaffy scored four times, while Snyder, Keyser, and freshman driver Guillian Helme scored twice.

Pearlman had seven saves in goal.

“Our defense was really good the entire weekend,” Gardner said.

—Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.