Harvard Women's Water Polo Clinches Conference Contest

In its third conference game of the season Wednesday night, the Harvard women’s water polo team (10-9, 2-1 CWPA) defeated Brown, 7-5, in front of a raucous home crowd at Blodgett Pool.

The Crimson victory over the Bears marks its fifth win over its Ivy League rival out of six total meetings over the past three seasons.

The Bears (11-7, 3-2 CWPA) were coming off a four-game winning streak at the Marist Invite, highlighted by a 7-5 victory against No. 10 Michigan.

Harvard also faced tough competition during its spring break trip to California last week.

Although the team did not claim any victories over its recent ranked opponents, the Crimson lost to No. 14 UC Santa Barbara by one goal and to Cal Baptist by a narrow margin of two.

According to Harvard coach Ted Minnis, both teams’ recent successes against big-name squads set the stage for an important matchup against the Bears last night.

"We can play with these teams," Minnis said. "Brown beat Michigan a couple weeks ago—they got three votes in the top 20 this week. For us to come in to have confidence…that we got in California is huge for us."

Harvard’s win over Brown puts the team back over a .500 record and in position to qualify for the upcoming CWPA Southern Division Championship and the CWPA Eastern Championship.

The crowd at Blodgett Pool was active, and active early, creating a playoff-like atmosphere as the Crimson and Brown traded blows.

Numerous Harvard supporters donned body paint as chants of Crimson support echoed throughout the building.

"It is huge to have fans at the game and it just means the world to us," co-captain Devan Kennifer said. "It pumps us all up…especially having such a loud and energetic crowd."

Harvard struck the first blow of the game, when senior attacker Monica Zdrojewski netted a goal three minutes into the first period.

But points were hard to come by as flurries of shots from both teams hit posts or were deflected by the outspread arms of defenders.

"We weren’t patient enough on our offense," Kennifer said. "We had a lot of turnovers, we were a little bit sloppy with our passing, [and] we didn’t protect the ball. But we stayed calm and powered through."

Sophomore attacker Shayna Prince capped off the period with a score with 1:30 remaining in the first frame to put Harvard up 2-0.

The Crimson held the Bears scoreless through the first period with a stingy defensive effort from freshman goalkeeper Arial Dukes.

In the second period, Brown ramped up its defensive effort, forcing several Harvard turnovers to hold the Crimson scoreless for six minutes and tie up the score, 2-2.

Harvard responded with two goals of its own to end the second period and headed into halftime with a 4-2 advantage.

On offense, both teams struggled early in the third frame with their set offensive formations, appearing stagnant and unable to penetrate.

"When we moved, we looked good, and we got scoring opportunities," Minnis said. "When we sat and played into their soft press, I think that played to their advantage.

"They shot block very well," he added. "They want you to shoot from outside. That movement was key for us."

On several instances, both teams were able to get the ball out ahead of the defense on counter-attack plays but either turned the ball over or botched attempts to score.

At end the third period, Kennifer looked to shoot on an uncontested drive toward the mouth of the goal but fumbled with the ball.

Fortunately for Harvard, she was able to tip it toward junior two-meter defender Elyse Molnar who scored to put Harvard up, 5-3.

With 4:29 remaining in the fourth period, Kennifer was able to capitalize to put the Crimson up 6-3.

Less than a minute later, Zdrojewski helped to pad the Harvard lead with a goal of her own, putting the Crimson up, 7-3.

The Bears attempted to spark a late comeback with a goal with 2:42 remaining in the final period to put Brown up, 7-4.

As the time began to run out, the Bears started to speed up their possessions and look for opportunities to score quickly.

Harvard was able to stymie the Brown comeback attempt and put the Bears away for good after a last-second Brown shot with 38 seconds remaining in the game.

Shayna Price paced the Crimson with two goals, three assists, and five steals.

Dukes anchored Harvard’s defensive effort with 13 saves.