Men's Water Polo Tallies Two Conference Victories

Saturday was Senior Day at Blodgett Pool as the Harvard men’s water polo team picked up two convincing victories in co-captain Max Murphy’s final pair of home contests.

The No. 18 Crimson (17-6, 4-3 CWPA) defeated conference foes MIT and Connecticut College in the team’s first doubleheader-sweep since Oct. 4.

HARVARD 19, CONNECTICUT COLLEGE 8

Energized by a strong first quarter, the Crimson jumped out to a big lead against Connecticut College (3-12, 0-4) and never looked back. Harvard came out strong after its win over MIT and cruised to a 19-8 victory over the Camels.

This was the Crimson’s third victory over Connecticut College this season, following wins on Sept. 14 and Oct. 11. The Crimson dominated early, taking a quick 7-3 lead, capped off by junior attacker Blake Lee’s buzzer-beating shot from deep to end the first quarter.

“We really kind of settled down this game coming off a good game with MIT,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “We played well on the defensive end and I think that was the main thing we wanted to work on.”

Junior co-captain Ben Zepfel and sophomore attacker Viktor Wrobel combined to score nine of Harvard’s goals. Murphy, freshman utility Harry Tafur, sophomore 2-meter defender Dan Stevens, and freshman utility Colin Chiapello each tallied two goals, while Austin Lee and Blake Lee had a goal apiece.

HARVARD 12, MIT 7

Harvard needed a strong second half to get past MIT (11-11, 3-4) in the team’s first game of the day, as the Engineers controlled the pace of play early while the Crimson struggled to create offensive opportunities.

When Harvard fell behind late in the second quarter, Minnis was forced to call a timeout to try to stem the tide. The Crimson responded right away, scoring three goals before the half to take a 4-3 lead entering intermission.

“I think at the four-minute mark in the second we kind of settled down and started attacking the way we talked about attacking,” Minnis said. “It started on the defensive end and [then we] went through our progressions on the offensive end.”

Harvard then exploded for eight second half goals to sink MIT, 12-7.

Lee led the way for the Crimson with four goals, including three in the second half. Zepfel, Harvard’s leading goal scorer on the season, added three tallies as the Crimson took a 5-4 lead early in the second half and never looked back. Joey Colton, Chiapello, Tafur, and Stevens also scored for Harvard.

“In the beginning of the game, we came out a little frantic,” Zepfel said. “We were rushing our shots, rushing our offense. A timeout was called, we all told each other just to calm down and run our offense the way we knew how to do it.”

The Crimson moved to 2-0 on the season against its crosstown foe after defeating the Engineers, 12-10, on Oct. 15.

Murphy’s two goals in the second game were a fitting conclusion to his Harvard career. The lone senior on the team has tallied 75 goals, 52 assists, and 61 steals in his four years playing for the Crimson. The San Mateo, Calif. native is the only squad on the team who has been with Minnis every year that the coach has held the reins at Harvard.

“It was really exciting—it’s kind of a bittersweet moment,” Murphy said. “I’m excited to have brought the team this far. Looking back on it, it’s been an amazing four years, but it’s kind of sad to no longer say I play at Blodgett. But I’m looking forward to finishing off the season strong.”