First Weekend at Home Sees Harvard Drop CWPA Matches

In its home-opening weekend, the Harvard men’s water polo team hosted a pair of conference rivals at Blodgett Pool but could not take full advantage of its home-team advantage. The Crimson (4-9, 0-4 CWPA) lost to cross-town rival MIT (6-12, 2-2) on Friday night, 8-4, before falling to Brown (6-4, 2-1), 11-4, on Saturday afternoon, leaving the squad winless in its first four games of conference play.

BROWN 11, HARVARD 4

Reeling from a loss in its home opener the night before, Harvard welcomed Brown for its second game of the weekend.

Despite a positive defensive showing from the Crimson, Harvard failed to execute on offense consistently, and Brown rode on an excellent performance from junior Svetozar Stefanovic to victory, 11-4.

“We turned the ball over way too much,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “We did some good things … but we have got to do a better job of putting the ball away.”

Brown opened the game with a goal in its first possession and continued to be the stronger of the two teams offensively in the first quarter, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the opening minutes. While Harvard hit the crossbar three times in the first period, its execution in its passing game was inconsistent, and the Crimson failed to find open shots.

Harvard would get a goal back seconds before the end of the first period, as sophomore Will Roller stole the ball and began a counter attack.

With three seconds left before the whistle, freshman John Holland-McCowan unleashed a low backhand shot from the far left of the pool that seemed to take Brown goalie Walker Shockley by surprise.

Play was even throughout much of the second and third periods. The Crimson managed to convert its first six-on-five goal of the weekend in the second period, and goalie Jimmy Field made two saves in Brown’s one-on-one opportunities.

But the squad could not cut into the lead Brown had established early in the game.

Stefanovic proved difficult to guard for the Harvard defenders. The junior tallied six goals and two assists on the day and seemed to be scoring or creating goals for his teammates every time he touched the ball.

Stefanovic also grabbed six steals, dominating the game on both sides of the ball.

The Crimson’s execution troubles continued into the final period of the game, as Brown kept Harvard scoreless in the fourth, despite numerous six-on-five opportunities.

After the game, Holland-McCowan had faith in his team to rise above its execution troubles going forward.

“When we executed the game plan, we played well,” the freshman said. “We need to go into these next few weeks knowing that we are a good team and can continue to grow and progress in that area.”

MIT 8, HARVARD 4

For any fan walking into Blodgett Pool for the Harvard men’s water polo home opener, it might have been difficult to decide which team was actually the host. MIT fans filled the stands and unleashed loud and continuous cheers, as their team pushed on for an 8-4 victory in an energetic and physical game.

The Crimson opened its season with a 13-5 victory against the Engineers a month ago, but junior two-meter Max Eliot knew that result would be tough to match.

“We knew [MIT was] going to come out fired up,” Eliot said. “We came into [the game] with a fresh mindset. We just did not do what we needed to do [Saturday], and it showed.”

With senior goalie Alex Popp out for at least another week with an elbow ligament injury, Field started in between the posts this weekend. Field and the Crimson defense began the game strongly, with the goalie notching some impressive saves.

But the Engineers scored two goals, while Harvard struggled offensively. Eliot registered numerous shots off weak passes but could not beat MIT goalie Columbus Leonard. The senior provided the Engineers with crucial saves all game and stifled many of the Crimson’s attacks.

While the first half remained relatively even, MIT came into the third period firing. Sophomore attacker Andrew Dorne scored four times in just over two minutes of game time, and the Engineers jumped to a huge lead, 8-2.

“I think we were getting frustrated with our offense, and we were not focused on defense,” Eliot said. “We let our defensive mistakes kill us in [the third] quarter.”

Harvard searched for an answer to this streak and a way back into the game. Co-captains Kevin DiSilvestro and Luka Babic orchestrated a counter attack that led to a goal just before the end of the third period. But MIT would remain defensively strong in the fourth period, as the visitors ran out the clock and claimed the victory.