Crimson Loses First Division Contest

Everyone loves a comeback story, but unfortunately for the Harvard men’s water polo team, this weekend didn’t have such a happy ending. The Crimson (5-14, CWPA Northern Division 3-2) fell to Brown (9-6, 3-2) and Iona (5-11, 3-1) in a pair of conference matches at Blodgett Pool Saturday and Sunday afternoon. In both games, Harvard recovered from early setbacks with good team and individual play, but this was not enough to capture a win. After suffering a 15-8 loss against the Bears, the Crimson came up short against the Gaels, losing 14-11.

IONA 14, HARVARD 11

In the second match of the weekend, the Crimson battled it out in a back-and-forth loss against Iona. Although it dropped the contest, Harvard demonstrated it could fix some of the problems nagging it all season.

“For 24 of 32 minutes, [it was] one of the better team performances we’ve had,” junior co-captain Bret Voith said. “[It’s] probably the best we’ve played in the last three weeks.”

Voith led the Crimson offensively with three goals, while co-captain Egen Atkinson and junior Alex Thompson each tallied two of their own. Three other Harvard players combined to contribute three more goals in the loss.

The Crimson began the first half with a quick goal against the Gaels, but after an early timeout, Iona senior Joe Przekota responded with the first of his five goals. The teams continued to alternate offensively, and the Gaels benefited from a fortunate bounce when a shot ricocheted off Harvard sophomore goalie Alexandre Popp to score late in the first quarter. Iona made it two straight with a fast-break goal just before the buzzer.

In the second quarter, defense continued to be an issue for both teams. Crimson freshman Max Eliot scored off a pass from Atkinson to take advantage of an Iona defensive breakdown. But Harvard wasted a 6-on-5 opportunity to allow the Gaels’ Przekota another goal and eventually the lead.

“[The Gaels] did an excellent job of being opportunists,” Farrar said. “We had a lot of missed chances to put the ball away, and they made us pay.”

Harvard came out aggressively in the second half, and Voith scored early to tie the match at 7-7. The co-captain went on to complete a hat trick, but the Gaels took advantage of fast-break opportunities to go on a 4-0 run despite a refocused Crimson defense.

“We had a will to win,” Thompson said about the team’s second-half attitude.

Late in the third quarter, Harvard showed signs of a potential comeback, but both teams’ goalies battled it out with some huge saves in the fourth quarter. And in the end, Iona held on by a three-goal margin.

BROWN 15, HARVARD 8

In Friday’s match against the Bears, the Crimson had highlights in certain aspects of its game, but struggled to bounce back from Brown’s 6-0 run in the first half that proved too much to overcome.

Harvard played well in the opening quarter, and held the Bears to a 3-2 lead. But the Bears put together a damaging streak of goals before halftime.

“If you take out the second quarter, we have a tie game...sort of a lapse in focus there,” Atkinson said. “But there’s no way around it. Hats off to Brown, they definitely came to play.”

Atkinson was one of five Harvard players to record at least one goal in the game, but the true standout was senior goalie Nikhil Balaraman.

“With the mistakes in the first half, we were putting [Balaraman] in a position where it was extremely difficult to block the ball,” Voith said.

Balaraman responded to the high demands with 11 saves in the match.

“Nikhil was the man, make sure you put that in the paper,” Atkinson said. “He was absolutely the man. He blocked a five meter, and two one-on-nobodies...For people who don’t understand water polo, he came up with some one-in-a-hundred saves today.”

The second half marked a positive change in play for the Crimson, especially offensively, but the Bears held onto the lead to hand Harvard its first Northern Division loss.

“[Brown] has a very good team this year, so we hope we get to meet them in the postseason and reverse this [loss], because we’re going to be...coming for them,” Atkinson said.

The Crimson will close out its divisional play this weekend in a home game against Fordham. They will also take on St. Francis to close out the regular season. The team is especially focused on Saturday’s high-stakes match.

“It’s critical,” Farrar said. “[Fordham] has gotten us the last two times we’ve played them, so this is the time for some decisive payback.”