M. Water Polo Settles for Third-Place Finish at Northerns

The Harvard men’s water polo team played the first of its two postseason tournaments this weekend at the Northern Championships hosted by MIT.

The Crimson finished the tournament in the same position as it entered, winning the third-place game against Iona to secure a spot as the No. 6 seed for Eastern Championships.

Entering Northerns as the No. 3 seed, Harvard played its first-round game against Fordham, a team it defeated earlier in the year, 10-5.

The Crimson set the tone for the match early, cruising to a commanding first-half lead.

Although a berth at Easterns was assured by the win, there was still work to be done at the Zesiger Pool in MIT.

Harvard’s semifinal match against rival Brown didn’t go as swimmingly as its earlier game, as the Crimson’s Northern Championships run was cut short by an impressive Bears offense.

The loss dropped Harvard into the third-place game against the Gaels. By virtue of its victory, the Crimson earned a date in the first round of Easterns with Johns Hopkins. A loss would have meant a treacherous matchup against No. 1 seed Navy.

“We’re really happy about this past weekend,” senior co-captain Chris Ludwick said. “We’re now in a really great spot to get into the top four of Easterns.”

HARVARD 7, IONA 5

With third place and its seeding in Easterns on the line yesterday, Harvard managed to overcome the memories of its loss against Brown and hold off a feisty Iona team for the victory.

“It was an ugly game on both sides,” Ludwick said. “Both teams weren’t really finished. It ended up being a very physical fighting game.”

Not winning any style points, the Crimson relied on its superior depth for the win.

Six players found themselves on the scoresheet in a game in which Harvard never trailed.

A goal by senior co-captain Michael Byrd gave Harvard a 4-1 lead in the second quarter, and freshman Bret Voith’s second score of the afternoon made it 7-3 in the fourth. The defense, led by junior netminder Jay Connolly, did its part to prevent an Iona comeback.

BROWN 10, HARVARD 6

In what has become one of the most intense rivalries in collegiate water polo, the Crimson again matched up with the Bears, this time with a spot in the Northern title game up for grabs.

After losing to Brown in overtime during the regular season, the encore was less dramatic.

“We really wanted to beat them,” Ludwick said. “But for some reason we just weren’t on our game, they scored a couple of lucky goals, we missed some goals, and it just went down from there.”

Similar to the previous game at Blodgett Pool, the Bears jumped out to an early lead. Unlike last time, however, Brown’s 6-1 lead after one half of play at Northerns proved to be overwhelming.

“We started taking some risks, playing more aggressively on offense,” Ludwick said. “It started to work but it was too little, too late to have any impact on the outcome.”

Byrd and freshman Alex Thompson each scored two goals for Harvard. Brown junior Mike Gartner tore up the Crimson defense to the tune of three goals and three drawn ejections.

The loss was Harvard’s third straight against the Bears.

HARVARD 13, FORDHAM 10

After being plagued by slow starts throughout its season, the Crimson came out of the gates on fire in its tournament opener, jumping out to an 8-2 lead against Fordham.

“We were more well rested than we had ever been before,” Ludwick said. “We were fresh and feeling good.”

Harvard’s early advantage allowed it to play a lot looser than it had in previous games and control the rhythm of play on both ends of the pool.

After its impressive first-half display essentially clinched the win, Harvard lost its sense of urgency in the second half and allowed the resilient Rams to creep back into the game.

Missed opportunities on breakaways and poor shootting accuracy allowed a Fordham comeback that cut the lead down to three. Sophomore Spencer Livingston responded with two vital goals to seal the victory.

The Crimson’s youngsters provided the majority of the offense against the Rams. Voith tallied a game-high four goals, Livingston added three, and sophomore Egen Atkinson chipped in a pair.

“It was really a team effort,” Ludwick said. “We were having all six players counter-attack down the pool.”

—Staff writer Mauricio A. Cruz can be reached at cruz2@fas.harvard.edu.