Nationally-Ranked Competition Drubs Crimson

If growing pains are part of maturing, the Crimson has certainly paid its dues.

The Harvard men’s water polo team continued its brutal schedule this past weekend with a west coast trip to the Claremont Convergence, a California tournament that pitted the ECAC competitors against some of the top talent in the nation.

The Crimson (2-7, 1-1 CWPA) suffered consecutive drubbings by No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 6 Loyola Marymount on Friday night and Saturday morning. But, disheartening results aside, Harvard seems fully aware of the benefit of facing such high-level opposition.

“Obviously, the weekend didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” sophomore Jeff Lee said. “But we can’t let [playing these top-10 teams] go to waste. We have to take our experiences from here and build on them.”

It is perhaps this squad’s resilience and positive outlook that demonstrate its true capacity for growth.

Co-captain David Tune insisted that the loss to Pepperdine was “a positive,” suggesting that such games have more significance than just their score.

“When you play a team that works together and runs a system so well, it helps you improve,” Tune said. “Right now everyone understands what we can do and everyone believes in themselves much more.”

Although it might surprise some to point to a lopsided defeat as uplifting, the Crimson has confidence that it will continue to improve with half of the season under its belt.

“Now that we’ve played together so much, we know what our roles are,” said Lee, who joined junior Egen Atkinson as the only players to record a goal in both games this weekend. “We know what [Harvard coach Erik Farrar] expects from us.”

Considering that the Crimson has played the last of its difficult non-conference games, it now has the opportunity to focus on league opponents and employ some of these critical lessons in the pool.

Harvard has already made a statement against Brown, progressing from a 14-6 defeat in September to a thrilling overtime loss last week. With the majority of the ECAC schedule still ahead, including crucial games at Iona and Fordham next weekend, the Crimson will have plenty of time to prepare for a strong showing at Easterns.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 19, HARVARD 4

Up against a powerful Lions squad on Saturday morning, the Crimson looked to even up its weekend effort, but could muster little threat at Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center.

LMU (9-5) brought a bruising, high-scoring style to the pool, drawing on 11 different scorers and a pair of hat tricks to keep Harvard at bay. Although senior co-captain Jay Connolly and junior Nikhil Balaraman played well in goal, notching ten and six saves respectively in one half of action each, the Lions proved relentless, taking a 6-0 lead after one frame and a 13-1 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

“That’s what can happen when you come out flat against a team that good,” Connolly explained.

But, while Harvard was aware of the challenge presented by the sixth-ranked team in the nation, the visitors showed prowess of their own, moving the ball effectively as four different players found the back of the net.

“We’re starting to anticipate what teammates are going to do,” Connolly said. “That’s something we need to keep up in order to be successful.”

The Crimson’s four goals belonged to juniors Atkinson and Mitch Denti, along with sophomores Lee and Alex Thompson.

PEPPERDINE 11, HARVARD 2

Although the Waves (9-3) finished with a big victory, the first matchup of the weekend began as a tightly contested battle. After Pepperdine jumped to a 3-0 lead, the Crimson fought back in the second quarter thanks to- back-to-back goals from Atkinson and Lee. Unfortunately for Harvard, a failed penalty shot that could have tied the contest at three instead ceded all momentum to the Waves, who extended their lead to 5-2 at the half.

Connolly made 12 stops to continue his run of stellar performances minding the net, but four unanswered scores from Pepperdine in the third period put the game out of reach.

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.