Crimson Loses Key Player, Splits Princeton Invitational

Like any sports team, a machine is greater than the sum of its parts. When there is a kink in the machinery, it can fall apart or stop working all together.

Similarly, when senior co-captain Luka Babic, a central piece to the Harvard men’s water polo team, was hospitalized for a brutal hit to the face in the fourth period of the Crimson’s Saturday morning game against George Washington, the team began to break down as its weekend at the Princeton Invitational progressed.

Babic was guarding two-meters when a backhand shot from the Colonials’ set struck him in the eye. He was taken out of the game and taken to the hospital afterward, where he received a total of 15 stitches above and below his eye.

“He’s a key component in our offense and it affected us more than we were expecting … playing without his intensity and his leadership,” freshman utility Max Murphy said.

Babic is recovering well and will likely return to the pool by next week, but Harvard’s fallout from his injury was not nearly as secure.

The Crimson (3-3) continued on to beat George Washington (3-5), 14-13, in double overtime but later lost to No. 17 Princeton (5-0) and Johns Hopkins (7-1) in its second and third games, respectively. Not until the third quarter of the invitational’s finale against Fordham did the Crimson finally regain its footing. Harvard claimed a comeback 8-6 victory over Fordham and split the Princeton Invitational, 2-2.

HARVARD 8, FORDHAM 6

Coming off of two significant losses to Johns Hopkins and the Tigers, the Crimson struggled to boost morale in the first half of its contest against the Rams, who came out strong to lead by two goals at the half.

After settling down at halftime, the Crimson knotted the score at five in third period before dominating the fourth with a 3-1 run to win.

“Everyone was exhausted at the end of two days and four games, but we switched up the line up, [which] helped keep the intensity and the excitement,” said Murphy, who led the team with three goals in his first starting game of his college career.

JOHNS HOPKINS 14, HARVARD 6

As was the trend for the weekend, Harvard got off to a slow start Sunday morning, letting the Blue Jays spring out to 5-0 lead in the first half.

“We didn’t play a solid defense,” head coach Ted Minnis said of the team’s performance in the second half. “We played a lot of man down, and they scored on that.”

While the Crimson was able to keep pace with Johns Hopkins for the remainder of the game, it was never able to close the scoring gap to less than four goals.

PRINCETON 13, HARVARD 2

Like the Johns Hopkins game, Harvard was late to put numbers on the board, waiting more than three quarters and 12 Princeton goals before putting the ball in the Tigers’ net Saturday afternoon. The match proved to be the Crimson’s most dismal performance of the weekend.

“We didn’t even get a shot off in the first quarter,” Minnis said. “They got momentum on us, and then their speed took over.”

Like the Blue Jays, Princeton demonstrated a strong defense and proved to be a very tough opponent.

“They’re very similar teams in the way they do things,” Minnis said. “They both get after it on the transitions. They’re both definitely what we are aspiring to be.”

HARVARD 14, GEORGE WASHINGTON 13

On the opening day of the two-day tournament, the Crimson took George Washington into double overtime in the morning, only to squeak out a 14-13 win.

Harvard was up 9-3 with less than three minutes in the third stanza against the Colonials. George Washington’s powerful 8-2 rally allowed them to knot the score at 11 in the final two minutes of the game. Fortunately for the Crimson, it outscored the Colonials by one goal in the second overtime.

“We established dominance early on in the game, and we relaxed too much,” Murphy said. “They came back while we were being complacent. We pulled out with the win, but at least, this weekend we learned to keep focus and intensity all four quarters.”

—Staff writer Patrick Galvin can be reached at galvin@college.harvard.edu.