Women's Water Polo Goes Goes 1-3 at Harvard Invite

Hosting some of the best teams in the nation, the Harvard women’s water polo team had some trouble against top-ranked opponents this weekend at the Harvard Invite. The Crimson went 1-3 on the weekend against the stiff competition.

SANTA CLARA 9, HARVARD 7

In a game that honored the Crimson’s two seniors as their final home contest of the season, Harvard (8-6, 0-1 Ivy) put up a fight against the No. 18 Broncos (7-9).

“The support was so awesome,” co-captain Shayna Price said. “[The way] the teammates, parents, and fans treat you at the end of your years is awesome. I’m definitely going to miss it, but I know there’s half a season left.”

By halftime the score was tied at four, with the lead having changed three times in the first two frames of play. Goals by freshman Melissa Balding and junior Kalina Grabb brought the Crimson to the tie.

“Santa Clara is a very good team, and they battled very well,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “I’m very proud of the way my girls played. They played four quarters of great water polo in this game.”

In the second half of the game, the Bronco’s offense came out firing, with two quick goals in the first three minutes of the third quarter.

Sophomore Yoshi Andersen brought the match to a tie at six with a goal from five meters out that skipped past the Broncos’ goalie and floated past the goal line for a score.

Another Andersen goal off a spin move was Harvard’s last score of the game, as Santa Clara scored two more in the final eight minutes that proved to be the final and deciding tallies of the game.

HARVARD 9, MARIST 8

In its only win of the weekend, the Crimson came out strong on Sunday morning to rally and beat the Red Foxes (4-12).

After opening the game with one goal apiece, Harvard was able to score three goals in a row to lead, 4-2, at the end of the first quarter.

The Crimson did not give up its lead for the rest of the game, and Harvard found itself up, 6-3, halfway into the second quarter. Marist came close to seizing the lead midway through the second half when the Red Foxes tied the game at seven. Price and Balding kept the Crimson’s lead by notching two goals late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

“The girls always come with lots of effort,” Minnis said. “We want to be one of the top teams in the country and to do that we have to play against the top teams in the country.”

SAN DIEGO STATE 12, HARVARD 8

The Crimson came out strong in the first frame of play against the No. 16 Aztecs, going ahead, 5-3, in the beginning eight minutes of play after goals from freshman Michelle Martinelli and sophomore Charlotte Hendrix.

The scoring fleet was quieted in the following three quarters, with Harvard tallying only three goals for the rest of the game while the Atzecs (10-6) mustered nine more nets.

Price and Andersen each had two goals for the Crimson, followed by Balding, Martinelli, and classmate Jillian Dukes, who all contributed a goal in the effort.

Price also led Harvard in assists with three, followed by junior Victoria Frager, who had two.

MICHIGAN 16, HARVARD 10

Matching up against the No. 20 Wolverines (10-10) proved to be too much for the Crimson to handle in its opening game of the weekend.

The Michigan offense had a strong day in the pool, with three players registering hat tricks against Harvard goalie Ariel Dukes.

The Crimson was able to hold its own in the first quarter, with a combined nine goals scored in the first eight minutes of play. The Wolverines came away with the lead at the end of the opening quarter, 5-4, and did not look back from there.

Michigan came out in the second quarter on an offensive roll, scoring four goals before the half. Harvard answered with two but could not close the gap.

“It’s a 1-3 weekend, so from the outside looking in you’re thinking ‘Wow, that wasn’t a great weekend,’ but we lost to three top-20 teams, and we lost in close games,” Minnis said. “We learned a lot in those games. We were in the games and didn’t have huge mistakes that cost us.”

—Staff writer Ariel Smolik-Valles can be reached at asmolikvalles@college.harvard.edu.