Fifth-Place Finish Signals End of Season

The Crimson knew it would have to leave everything in the pool at the Northern Division Championships. The squad did just that, but it was MIT that got the last laugh. The Engineers prevented Harvard water polo from advancing in the postseason for the second straight year.

The Crimson (7-17, 3-3 CWPA Northern Division) hosted the divisional championships at Blodgett Pool this weekend and needed a top-four finish to advance to the Eastern Conference Championships. Unfortunately for Harvard, a 7-5 opening round loss eliminated this possibility. After falling to MIT, the Crimson rallied for two victories and a fifth-place finish—but found itself once again on the outside looking in.

“It’s disappointing not to qualify for Easterns,” co-captain Egen Atkinson said. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the season’s over, and it definitely stings.”

Harvard did notch two solid performances after elimination, topping Connecticut College, 20-6, and Queens, 15-8.

“We just had the mentality, ‘Look these are our last two games, let’s play our hearts out,’ and I think we did that,” junior Jeff Lee said. “For the seniors, these were their last collegiate games, and we felt like we needed to send them off on a good note.”

Indeed, for the four seniors—Atkinson, Dan Furman, Nikhil Balaraman, and Thomas Bailey—the championships marked a bittersweet ending, but Atkinson asserted that the squad has begun moving in the right direction.

“It’s disappointing to end this way, but I can only hope that my legacy and the legacy of the seniors continues in other ways,” he said. “My consolation is that I do believe the program is better in some ways now as I leave than it was when I came in.”

HARVARD 15, QUEENS 8

In the Crimson’s final contest of the season, Harvard steamrolled to a win against the Knights (3-13, 1-6) on Sunday morning. Junior co-captain Bret Voith netted a game-high four goals, and also stepped up on the defensive end with five steals. A number of Crimson competitors chipped in to support Voith’s effort, including rookie Max Eliot and Lee, with a hat trick and pair of goals, respectively.

Balaraman posted eight saves in his final collegiate game, but Harvard rarely found itself threatened. With goals from six different players, including Furman, the Crimson built an early lead and never looked back. Although Queens kept the score to 10-7 through three quarters, Harvard exploded in the final frame for a 5-1 edge to put the game out of reach.

HARVARD 20, CONNECTICUT COLLEGE 6

Junior Alex Thompson enjoyed another outstanding performance for the Crimson, netting six of his seven weekend goals against the Camels. Despite returning to the pool Saturday afternoon following the devastating defeat at the hands of MIT, Harvard roared out of the gate against Connecticut College (3-16) and exacted a measure of retribution through its dominant performance.

“It’s always difficult to play after a loss, especially a season-ending loss, but these guys have a lot of pride,” Crimson coach Erik Farrar said. “It was our home pool, and we’re Harvard water polo.”

The Crimson rode an early 6-1 cushion for the remainder of the contest, relying on a hat trick from Lee and junior Veselin Kulev’s first two career collegiate goals to put the Camels away. Junior John Kolb, sophomores Luka Babic, Kevin DiSilvestro, Evan Zepfel, and freshman Antone Martinho also notched scores in the lopsided contest.

MIT 7, HARVARD 5

The Crimson opened the weekend with high hopes for its Saturday morning matchup with the fifth-seeded Engineers, but left the pool dissatisfied. Despite having defeated MIT, 9-6, on Sept. 16th, Harvard faced a much more prepared squad than it did two months ago.

In atypical fashion, the pivotal contest evolved into a defensive struggle, with MIT (8-14, 3-3) taking only a 3-1 edge into the locker room at halftime.

“Both defenses clamped down, and everybody was in championship mode,” Farrar said.

Yet, after back-and-forth exchanges, it was the Engineers that broke through more often, riding their two-goal lead to a 7-5 victory. Although Atkinson could not pinpoint specific differences between the playoff contest and the regular season meeting between the squads, he credited MIT for peaking at the right time.

“I honestly felt that we played and fought harder in this second game [against the Engineers], but hats off to them for bringing it,” he said. “The truth is, they improved more over the season than we did.”

While all Crimson players and coaches expressed disappointment over the loss, the squad signaled its future potential as a slew of young players contributed offensively. Eliot scored twice, while DiSilvestro, Babic, and fellow sophomore Mike Katzer each added a tally. With a number of strong returning players, Harvard will look to build on the work of its graduating class and overcome some of the challenges of the 2009 season.

“We faced a lot of adversity this season ,and I feel that we got a lot tougher,” Lee said. “Things didn’t turn out [this season], but I feel like next year these experiences, and what the seniors have helped us to achieve, will really come in handy.”

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