The Crimson Fall to No.19 Brown in OT Battle

Last night at Blodgett pool, the Harvard men’s water polo team fell to No. 19 Brown 10-8 in overtime. The Crimson (2-5, 1-1 CWPA) stayed in the game with solid defense and a few timely goals, but in the end, missed opportunities prevented the team from getting the win.

“We came out strong right from the opening whistle,” coach Erik Farrar said. “We certainly had our chances in regulation. We missed some huge fast-break opportunities that we won’t miss again.”

Thirty-two minutes were not enough for the Crimson to finish off the Bears (6-5, 3-0 CWPA).

With a little more than a minute left on the clock, senior co-captain David Tune scored his third goal of the game on a quick shot into the bottom right corner of the net. With a 7-6 lead, the Crimson needed to hold off the Bears for one minute, but failed to do so, as Brown recovered the ball quickly and scored.

“This rivalry is too heated for us to just expect to come in and win,” Brown coach Felix Mercado said. “You’ve got to give Harvard all the credit in the world.”

Tension rose around the pool as the game went into an overtime period consisting of two three-minute frames. Brown won the face-off and scored on a power play just past the goal line. After some back and forth jousting between the two offenses, Brown attacked again, this time firing into the right side of the net.

The second overtime period began with an important penalty shot by Voith who bounced the ball into the net to put the Crimson within one point. But a breakaway goal by Brown quieted any hopes of beating the Bears.

“Overtime has got nothing to do with how good of a water polo player you are—it’s about heart and hustle,” Farrar said.

The Crimson missed some key opportunities in the game, including an unsuccessful penalty shot and various power play shots off of the goal posts.

“We had our chances, we just didn’t stick the ball in the net,” Farrar said. “Brown did a little better job of capitalizing on their opportunities.”

Voith had a standout performance in the game, tallying three goals in the first quarter and tacking on another in overtime. Brown goalie Kent Holland was unable to defend the net against the sophomore.

Tune highlighted the beginning of the fourth period with a shot behind his back that skidded into the goal past surprised Brown goalie Holland. Tune had three goals on the day.

“Our defense was pretty good the whole game, big improvement from past weeks,” co-captain Jay Connolly said.

The Harvard goalie recorded an impressive 11 saves on the day.

Even with the loss, Harvard showed much improvement compared to its last meeting with Brown.

“Last time we played them they beat us by eight goals,” Connolly said. “We are moving in the right direction. I think we are going to carry that momentum forward.”

“I think we did a good job of executing what we worked on this week. It didn’t go our way,” Tune said. “We can hold our heads high after that one.”

Friday the Crimson will look for a win against No. 4 Pepperdine as it travels to the west coast to participate in the Claremont Convergence Tournament.