No. 10 Harvard Men’s Water Polo Extends a Fourteen-Game Win Streak After Another Undefeated Weekend

After an undefeated weekend on the West Coast, besting No. 20 Santa Clara University (12-6), No. 14 San Jose State University (12-10), No. 17 California Baptist University (11-10), and No. 16 University of the Pacific, the No. 10 Harvard’s men’s water polo team looked forward to last weekend’s three games at home against conference opponents, including rival Princeton.

When asked about what he learned from the come-from-behind victory the Crimson had against California Baptist, head coach Ted Minnis said, “I think it showed me a lot about this group and this team, and how much we've learned about and trust each other that we can be we can hit some adversity [...] we’re able to rally and win I think I learned a lot of positive things about my team.”

Similarly, senior captain Kaleb Archer stated “the main thing that I probably took away from what our team showed this past weekend was resiliency.”

With these lessons in mind, the Crimson looked forward to its three-game-set last weekend at Blodgett Pool against Long Island University (LIU), Iona University, and No. 6 Princeton University. With Harvard’s top conference competition, Princeton, on the near horizon, Harvard needed to still give its full effort to both LIU and Iona University.

Archer said, “[focusing on the games before our big competition] is something that we've [...] historically struggled with,” referencing the Crimson’s near loss to Wagner College earlier in the season. ”We're only as good as our next game.”

He later explained that “this weekend was set up really well, [...] we should really be able to take care of [the two games] on Saturday, and then fully shift our focus to Princeton on Saturday night into Sunday.”

That is exactly what Harvard did. With a dominating performance over LIU (23-7), the Crimson started the weekend off hot. 13 different athletes contributed to its impressive 23 goals, including a hat trick from senior Colin Le, first-year Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan, and sophomore James Rozolis-Hill.

Harvard water polo head coach Ted Minnis draws up a play for his team on September 5, 2021 against Wagner at home at Blodgett Pool. By Zing Gee

Harvard continued its impressive Saturday performance with a second win over Iona University (19-10). This time, Archer led the scoresheet with four goals followed closely by Sogaard-Srikrishnan’s hat trick. The game also marked an impressive performance for sophomore goalie Tanner Furtak, who had a career-high 15 saves.

After extending its win streak to fourteen games, the Crimson was ready for Princeton. Harvard’s last time facing off against Princeton (10-17) resulted in its most recent loss of the season.

Coach Minnis explained the team had learned from the Crimson’s previous Princeton game that “you can't give up 17 goals against the top team and think you're gonna be successful.” He added, “We're going to have to work harder on the defensive side of the ball, we're going to have to control the defensive side of the ball, [and] we're going to have to minimize our mistakes [in order to win.]”

“We're just excited to get another stab at them,” Archer stated.

Harvard was able to follow Minnis’ plan and improve its defensive efficacy. Its offense was powerful as well, with 6 players each scoring a goal, led by Rozolis-Hill with another hat trick. With only five minutes left in the game, the Crimson was leading 11-8, but Princeton tied the game in the final minute to force overtime.

During each of the next three overtime periods, first-year goalie Oliver Price had a key save to keep the Crimson alive. Finally, in sudden-death, senior Gabe Putnam scored his third goal of the day and clinched the victory for Harvard, its first victory over the Tigers since 2021.

Looking forward, the Crimson has its eyes set on the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) championships.

“Our main goal is to get to a championship game, [but] the focus is one game at a time. We got to win a quarterfinal game, and then we got to win a semifinal game. And then whatever happens happens,” Coach Minnis explained.

The team is very excited that the rest of the season’s games are at home. Archer described the team's mantra as “protect Blodgett, protect the home pool.”

Coach Minnis added, “We love playing at Blodgett. And we're hoping that [...] people will come out and support us.”

Currently, the Crimson are on a 15-game win streak and hope to continue its victorious run this weekend when they play No. 18 Brown and MIT this Saturday and Sunday respectively.

-Staff writer Luke Lawson can be reached at luke.lawson@thecrimson.com