Women's Water Polo Drops Trio of Games Against Ranked Opponents

Entering the home pool of the eighth-ranked team in the nation is rarely an easy affair. For the No. 13 Harvard women’s water polo team, leaving Canham Natatorium with a win was even harder.

The Crimson (19-7, 0-3 CWPA) lost matches to No. 15 Indiana, host No. 8 Michigan, and No. 16 Princeton this weekend, falling to a winless start to CWPA conference play.

Harvard is being dominated in the all-time series against this particular trio of rivals, now trailing 15-61-1 combined. The Tigers also hold a 23-game winning streak over the Crimson.

“The team fought hard this weekend in three games that we knew would be very competitive and difficult,” junior attacker Melissa Balding said. “I think the difficulty highlighted some of the areas that we still have room to improve [upon] moving forward.”

Harvard is now 8-6 this season against ranked opponents and 3-4 against those ranked in the top 15.

No. 16 PRINCETON 9, No. 13 HARVARD 7

Balding put the Crimson on the board first with an early goal, giving Harvard its first lead of the weekend, but Princeton (14-5, 1-2 CWPA) responded by taking a 4-3 lead after the first period, holding on to win, 9-7.

Junior attacker Michelle Martinelli tallied three goals in the loss, while senior captain Yoshi Andersen added another. Sophomore goalkeeper Cleo Harrington made nine stops between the pipes.

We definitely learned a lot about ourselves as a team, and learned how to respond to momentum shifts that were against our favor,” Andersen said. “Part of [our loss] was being a little bit too timid, and being afraid to make mistakes, and then getting frantic and actually making those mistakes.”

Four different Princeton players, including leading goal-scorer sophomore Haley Wan, tallied two goals apiece to lead a balanced Tigers attack. Princeton led 7-4 at the halftime break and maintained a three-goal cushion until 1:23 left in the game, which was more than enough for the Tigers to come away with their first CWPA win and leave Harvard winless on the weekend.

No. 8 MICHIGAN 10, No. 13 HARVARD 5

Saturday afternoon’s nationally-televised game against the Wolverines (22-6, 3-0 CWPA) proved to be a one-sided affair, as the home team jumped out to 4-1 lead over the Crimson halfway through the second period and never looked back. Michigan stretched its lead to five goals and preserved the margin to defeat Harvard, 10-5.

Five Harvard players tallied one goal each to provide the total offense. However, part of the Wolverine’s success was realized in holding freshman attacker Kristen Hong, the Crimson’s leading scorer, without goal.

On the other hand, the leading Michigan scorer, senior attacker Ali Thomason, burned Harvard’s defense with four goals and short-circuited its offense with three steals.

“These games are difficult because [Princeton, Michigan, and Indiana] are teams that know how to capitalize on mistakes,” Balding said. “Sometimes, you can get away with making a mistake in the game, but against teams like these, making errors will cost you goals.”

Harvard pulled within two scores, 5-7, with five minutes remaining in the fourth period, but ill-timed exclusions and turnovers halted any momentum that it had gained.

“Moving forward, there’s things that we want to do, on both offense and defense, just to make sure that the whole team is on the same page all the time,” Balding said. “It’s just becoming more familiar with the systems that we want to run and being able to be adaptable.”

No. 15 INDIANA 10, No. 13 HARVARD 7

Indiana (17-6, 2-1 CWPA) jumped out to a 4-0 second-period lead and held off a late Harvard charge to win, 10-7, evening up the season series at 1-1 after losing to the Crimson in overtime earlier this season.

Balding’s third consecutive hat trick and Harrington’s 12 saves in goal spearheaded Harvard’s performance. Hoosier senior center Candyce Schroeder snapped the back of the net three times and redshirt freshman Karrie Kozokar scored thrice to lead Indiana.

The Crimson, playing in its first conference game of 2016, fell behind early and never led. Saturday’s loss to the Hoosiers also snapped Harvard’s three game conference-opener winning streak.

Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bhu01@college.harvard.edu.