Women's Water Polo Kicks Off Season with Weekend Sweep

The Harvard women’s water polo team swept its opening matches Saturday, defeating three visitors at Blodgett Pool. The Crimson defeated Iona, 15-13, and Villanova, 18-6, before closing out the day with a 10-7 win over CAMO.

Nine different Harvard players scored over the course of the day. Freshmen Yoshi Andersen and Charlotte Hendrix each had multiple hat tricks in their collegiate debuts.

“I was very excited with the way we’ve started off,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “I think we did a lot of good things. Defensively, we really moved today; we locked it down when we needed to.”

HARVARD 12, CAMO 8

The Crimson took a commanding early lead and held on for its third win in eight hours as Harvard defeated CAMO, a Montreal-based junior national team, 12-8. Andersen and co-captain Aisha Price both recorded hat tricks.

The Crimson jumped out to a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter as Andersen and co-captain Elise Molnar found the net multiple times. Junior Shayna Price and freshman Rachel Lobato also contributed to the early run.

But a scrappy CAMO team challenged Harvard in spurts. The club closed out the second quarter with a 4-1 run.

“[CAMO is] an international team, and it’s a different style,” Minnis said. “They’re a very physical team, and that’s not something you see all the time. They make you work for everything.”

The Crimson controlled the opening of the third period as Andersen completed the hat trick and Aisha Price contributed two close-range floaters to put Harvard up, 10-4. But CAMO responded with another strong back-half, ending the quarter on a 3-0 run to cut the Crimson’s lead to three.

Harvard’s final goal with just over a minute left in the final frame put the game out of reach. Aisha Price zipped a close shot from the right wing for her fourth goal of the evening.

“I thought it was pretty inspiring that we were able to pull it together for three games,” Andersen said. “It just shows how dedicated everybody was to preseason.”

HARVARD 18, VILLANOVA 6

Harvard surged to an 11-0 lead in its best start of the day as the Crimson cruised to beat the Wildcats, 18-6. Aisha Price led all scorers with five strikes while Hendrix and sophomore Kalina Grabb were close behind with four and three goals, respectively.

Andersen struck first for the Crimson just over two minutes into the first quarter. Harvard added another five markers in the opening frame, including two from Grabb.

The Crimson tallied five more unanswered goals in the second period before Villanova found its first. In the third, Villanova outscored Harvard, 2-1, but the Crimson controlled the last quarter, 6-3, to ride to a 12-goal win. Minnis felt that Harvard’s next meeting with Villanova in two weeks will not be as comfortable.

“We only have one last opportunity to play at home, so I think we’re playing with a lot more energy because this was one of the last opportunities we’d be able to play here in Blodgett,” Minnis said. “I don’t think that we can determine anything from what happened in the Villanova game because of the way we were jacked up to play, and we really came out and jumped on them early.”

The Crimson will have to beat the Wildcats at Villanova on Feb. 24. Harvard’s only remaining home game is an April 3 contest against Brown.

HARVARD 15, IONA 13

Harvard led from start to finish in a tight home opener to defeat the Gaels, 15-13. Junior Shayna Price recorded a day-high six goals while Andersen and Hendrix earned their first career hat tricks.

“[Iona and Harvard] always go back-and-forth, so we’ve always had a good rivalry,” Aisha Price said. “We just wanted to buckle down and play good defense.”

The Crimson started sharp, taking a 3-0 lead just over two minutes into the game. But Iona quickly battled back on the next possession with a 6-on-5 strike. The Gaels converted on a 5-meter penalty shot less than 30 seconds later to draw within one.

“They were definitely really strong,” Andersen said. “At first, that kind of threw me off, but then everybody focused on their fundamentals and everything that we’ve been talking about in practice, and you could really see it in that game.”

Iona would remain on Harvard’s heels for the remainder of the match. Shayna Price scored all three of the Crimson’s goals in the second quarter, and Hendrix provided the Crimson’s final two tallies of the game to stave off a Gael comeback.

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at mledecky@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @mdledecky