Men's Water Polo Posts Strong Weekend

No. 8 Harvard went 2-1 on the weekend in its fourth week of play. After sweeping the competition last week in the Bison Invitational, the Crimson picked up additional wins this week against Iona and No. 14 Princeton. The team’s first loss since the opening week of the season, and only second loss overall, came to St. Francis. With this weekend's results, the team continues its impressive run to start the season.

“It’s family ball as our coach calls it,” sophomore defender Grant Harvey said. “We’re playing Harvard water polo the way we always wanted to play it. We don’t have any of those selfish players who want to have the glory for themselves, they just want what’s best for the team. I think that’s what it is, everyone’s on the same page; everyone’s grinding and we all rejoice the same no matter who scores the goal because that’s all that matters”

HARVARD 8, PRINCETON 7

Following the loss to St Francis, Harvard returned to action on Sunday, facing off with No. 14 Princeton in Ivy league play.

“We definitely tried to put the last game against St Francis behind us,” sophomore goalie Anthony Ridgley said. “It was definitely a disappointing loss but you need to take everything in the present, the now, and that’s the only way to face an opponent, with a clear head. So we went in with the mentality that we had to get out and get after really early. Our counterattack and our defense are our biggest strength and we definitely got out on them early and took a 4-0 and had a good control over the game the entire time.”

The Crimson raced out to a four goal lead in the first quarter with help from senior defender Dan Stevens, senior attacker Joey Colton, freshman defender Benny Seybold, and junior utility player Colin Chiapello. However, Princeton responded in the second quarter with strong defense and three goals of its own to make it a 4-3 game going into halftime.

Stevens and senior attacker Viktor Wrobel scored in the third, and Harvard went into the fourth quarter with a 6-4 advantage. In the fourth, the Tigers quickly scored three goals to retake the lead. With 2:30 remaining in the game, Chiapello scored to even up the game; a minute later, Ridgley played an outlet pass to senior attacker Noah Harrison, who tucked it in behind the Princeton keeper for the score. With the goal, Harrison extended his scoring streak to 14 consecutive games.

“We knew we had to create movement and stick to our gameplan the entire game,” Ridgley, who finished with 11 saves and two assists, said. “We did that and we executed and even with varying scores the entire time we knew we had control and we had trust in our system and the system prevailed in the end.”

ST. FRANCIS 10, HARVARD 7

The Crimson’s second contest Saturday saw the team fall behind in the first quarter and struggle to come back against St. Francis Brooklyn’s attack. Harrison scored early in the first quarter. Sophomore attackers Nick Bunn, Grayson Judge, and Nathan Ondracek also scored for Harvard, with Bunn’s two goals leading the team. Ridgley started the game, finishing with three saves, one assist, and four steals. Freshman Nikhil Suri would later replace Ridgely, recording four saves of his own.

The conditions of the pool played a role in the Crimson’s performance on Saturday.

“When we always go on our New York trips, it’s always an interesting experience,” Harvey said. “Both of those schools we play in aren’t really a regulation water polo pool but it’s what the school has and what we have to, unfortunately, play in...We were able to overcome it in Iona but at St Francis we weren’t able to beat them in their own pool. However, we look forward to them coming to our big pool, what we call our big water, and taking us on here at home, because we like our chances a lot”.

HARVARD 16, IONA 10

After finishing a tough first quarter tied up 4-4, Harvard turned to Harrison, who responded with a career day. Harrison scored three of his career high eight goals in the second quarter. Stevens scored the Crimson’s fourth and final goal of the quarter, and Harvard went into the half with an 8-7 advantage.

Defense was the theme of the third quarter, as the Crimson held Iona scoreless and scored five goals of their own, increasing the lead to 13-7. Bunn started off the quarter with a goal. Harrison struck again this quarter, scoring four straight goals and finishing with a career high seven steals. Seybold and freshman attacker Austin Sechrest scored two goals and one goal one assist, respectively, to carry the offense in the fourth quarter.