Women's Water Polo Finishes Third in CWPA Southern Division Championship

With eight minutes to go, the Harvard women’s water polo team seemed poised to defeat Ivy League rival Brown and punch its ticket to the CWPA Southern Division Championship final. But the Bears scored four goals in the fourth quarter to erase a 5-3 Crimson lead and claim the semifinal, 7-6, on Saturday in Lewisburg, Pa.

“[We are] a little bitter about the finish,” co-captain Devan Kennifer said. “Losing to Brown was not fun. It left quite a bit of taste but gave us some fire for the end of the season.”

Harvard (15-10, 4-1 CWPA) finished the weekend 2-1, defeating Mercyhurst and Bucknell by wide margins to take third place at the Southern Division Championship.

“This league has gone back and forth all over the place,” Kennifer said. “It is really anyone’s game. It is tough getting edged out of that first-place game because we wanted a shot at Princeton, and we knew we could take them. It is fuel for the end of the season. It’s not going to hold us back.”

HARVARD 15, BUCKNELL 7

The Crimson faced Bucknell (14-21, 2-3) in its final match of the weekend on Sunday.

“Bucknell was kind of brutal,” freshman goalie Ariel Dukes said. “The other team was really aggressive, but our girls were very tough and wouldn’t let them hang around. It would have been easier for the girls not to try because [we were upset that] we were in the third-place game, but everyone still tried their hardest.”

The first period was a high scoring affair with both teams capitalizing on offensive opportunities. At the end of the first frame, Harvard led, 4-3.

In the second period, the Crimson turned up the defensive pressure, limiting the Bison to one goal while adding five more scores to gain a five-goal lead heading into halftime.

Harvard coasted in the second half, adding six more goals to take third place.

Kennifer scored four times in the contest while Harvard teammates senior Monica Zdrojewski and sophomore Shayna Price contributed three goals apiece.

BROWN 7, HARVARD 6

After opening Saturday with a win in its first game of the tournament, the Crimson fell, 7-6, to the Bears (19-14, 3-2).

Harvard went goal for goal with Brown in the first and second periods, and the teams went into halftime knotted at two.

In the third, the Crimson outscored Brown, 3-1, to take a 5-3 lead going into the final quarter.

“We felt good going into the Brown game,” Kennifer said. “We were really excited to take it to them. We just weren’t shooting well. Our shot percentage was just so low. They ran a huge drop, and we were shooting from far out and just couldn’t get anything. We made their goalie look really good.”

While Harvard held a 5-3 lead heading into the final frame, Brown scored four goals and allowed only one Harvard goal in the period to take the one-goal victory and advance to the CWPA Southern Division Championship game.

Dukes finished with 11 saves while Zdrojewski finished with three goals in the contest.

HARVARD 12, MERCYHURST 3

The Crimson cruised to a win over the Lakers (9-17, 0-5 CWPA) in its first game of the weekend.

Although both teams started off scoreless for the first three minutes of regulation, by the end of the first, Harvard held a 4-0 lead.

“It went fine against Mercyhurst,” Kennifer said. “There were a few things, like plays and six-on-five formations that we didn’t do in the first game, because we knew people would be scouting us for the last two games. It was a good way to shake out the cobwebs.”

Sophomore Shayna Price tied a season high with four goals to lead the Crimson while six other Harvard players also contributed goals in the Crimson victory.

Harvard shut down Mercyhurst defensively, allowing only one goal during the second and third periods while scoring two goals in the second and four in the third to extend its lead to 10-1 going into the final frame.

The Crimson lead extended to as many as ten during the fourth with goals from junior attacker Aisha Price and sophomore attacker Riley Kessler.

Harvard will get a shot at improving upon its third-place finish when it participates in the CWPA Eastern Division Championship beginning April 27.

“It’s definitely a disappointing weekend, but it’s two weeks from now that matters—that’s the win that I want,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “We have two weeks to practice. We’re going to go through the two weeks like it’s preseason…and hope we’re playing our best polo in two weeks.”