Harvard Falls to Princeton in NWPC Championship, Tigers Win Five Straight

No. 18 Harvard men’s water polo (20-10, 9-1 NWPC) and No. 14 Princeton (23-9, 9-1 NWPC) met for the third time this fall on Sunday, as the Ivy League rivals vied for the NWPC Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I tournament.

Harvard and Princeton, the NWPC regular-season co-champions, had previously faced off twice, with each team earning one win. During the second contest, Princeton handed the Crimson its only in-conference loss of the season, eliminating Harvard’s claim of an outright regular season title.

The Crimson, looking to secure its fourth NWPC Championship title and another NCAA appearance, struggled early in the championship match against the Tigers, trailing by five at the end of the first half.

With the win, Princeton secured its fifth consecutive NWPC Championship title and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Harvard 18, Brown 14

Before advancing to the championship match, the Crimson had to beat No. 19 Brown, the NWPC’s only other nationally-ranked team besides Harvard and Princeton, in the semifinals.

Thanks to four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter, the Crimson pulled ahead of its foes from Providence, R.I., with an 18-14 victory.

The NWPC Player of the Year and utility Jack Burghardt returned to the pool for Harvard after missing the team’s last game against Princeton due to an injury. The junior scored six goals against the Bears, tallying his 100th of the season. Junior attacker Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan and senior attacker Mason Hunt scored five and four, respectively, to seal the game for the Crimson in the fourth quarter.

Burghardt netted a one-on-one goal in the first minute to open Harvard’s scoring. The Bears quickly responded and took advantage of a power play to tie the score.

Senior goalie Tanner Furtak recorded a save, but Brown diffused Harvard’s attacks with saves and easily recollected the Crimson’s offensive turnovers.

Entry passes to Burghardt and Brown’s sophomore utility Dominik Balla allowed both to score their second goals of the game. Then Sogaard-Srikrishnan fired the ball home to give Harvard a 3-2 lead.

Several saves by the Bears’ sophomore goalie, Dimitrios Kratimenos, and the Crimson’s defensive pressure along the perimeter slowed down the scoring until Brown broke through following a transition foul to tie the first quarter.

The teams exchanged successive goals. Burghardt scored his fourth to reclaim the Crimson’s lead. A defensive stop led Sogaard-Srikrishnan to complete a hat-trick, for the Bears struggled to stop his outside shots. Kratimenos’s saves failed to compensate for Brown’s missed shots and time spent searching for scoring opportunities on the perimeter.

Hunt and Burghardt capped Harvard’s 6-2 run to end the half with an 11-7 lead in favor of the Crimson.

Key defensive stops allowed both Furtak and Kratimenos to secure possession for their respective teams in the third quarter. The Crimson missed its shots, but Furtak’s saves held Brown to just a two-goal run following a burst of offensive momentum in the center.

The Bears closed the deficit to one goal late in the third quarter following several saves by Kratimenos. Sogaard-Srikrishnan scored his fourth, but Brown’s penalty conversion kept the score gap at one goal, with Harvard leading 13-12 despite being outscored 5-2 in the third.

Reminiscent of the first quarter, Burghardt and Balla once again exchanged goals to open the fourth quarter’s scoring.

Kratimenos saved a penalty shot, but Brown failed to stop Harvard’s offensive onslaught in the final four minutes. The Crimson’s initial attempts were deflected, but Harvard’s rebounding prowess helped the team drain nearly 1:30 off the clock by maintaining possession.

The Crimson’s defense swarmed the Bears’ attempts at central breakthroughs, only conceding one goal to close the quarter.

Brown scored its last goal with a minute remaining on the clock, but Hunt and Sogaard-Srikrishnan scored their final goals to round out Harvard’s four unanswered points, finishing the game with an 18-14 advantage and earning a spot in the championship match.

Harvard 10, Princeton 13

In the NWPC final, sophomore attacker Dean Strauser’s hat trick and Furtak’s double-digit saves helped Harvard put up a good fight. However, the Crimson ultimately fell 10-13 to the Tigers after failing to recover a five-goal deficit in the second quarter.

Harvard cut Princeton’s lead to two early in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers’ senior utility Logan McCarroll’s fourth-quarter hat trick crushed the Crimson’s hopes of a comeback.

Princeton jumped to an early 2-0 lead, converting a fastbreak and penalty despite Harvard’s holding back-to-back possessions to start the game. A classic entry pass found Burghardt for the Crimson’s first goal of the match on the power play.

Furtak’s three consecutive stops held Princeton at bay despite the Tigers’ two early goals, until another fastbreak and counterattack led to a third goal for the reigning champions. The Crimson failed to capitalize on its power play opportunities late in the first, as the Tigers mounted rapid attacks that helped build their 3-1 lead.

Entering the second quarter, Sogaard-Srikrishnan entered foul trouble with two exclusions.

Harvard, able to find space in the middle, struggled to convert past Princeton’s defense in six consecutive possessions. A penalty conversion by Strauser was the Crimson’s only goal for a majority of the second quarter.

The Tigers racked up a three-goal run, while their defense forced Harvard to retreat offensively and record two shot clock violations.

Junior attacker Jacob Tsotadze eventually broke the Crimson’s offensive drought, scoring Harvard’s second goal of the quarter.

A back-and-forth ensued early in the third quarter, with the Tigers refusing to let Harvard close the five-goal gap. Sophomore attacker Lukas Peabody and Sogaard-Srikrishnan scored for the Crimson, but Harvard also conceded an offensive foul deep in its own territory, which spurred a Princeton fastbreak goal.

Strauser rejuvenated Harvard’s resistance, scoring a goal and flicking an assist to Burghardt to close the deficit to 8-10. Princeton’s junior goaltender, Kristóf Kovács, also recorded double-digit saves, making several point-blank saves to close the quarter.

Yet again, Strauser stepped up to the plate to finish a penalty, positioning Harvard to trail by just two for the first time since the first quarter.

Princeton, though, reenergized its offensive momentum with two goals off a power play. Seeking a man-up advantage, Harvard pulled its keeper, allowing freshman attacker Connor Kim to score a goal.

The Tigers and Peabody scored their final goals with three minutes remaining, but Princeton’s dagger goal allowed it to drain the clock and diffuse Harvard’s final offensive.

Only eight teams earn the highly coveted spots in the NCAA tournament. Six of the teams, including Princeton, qualify automatically by winning their conference championships. Two teams will be lucky recipients of at-large bids. The bracket will be announced by the selection committee tomorrow at noon.