W. Water Polo Finishes Second in Ivy League Championships

The Harvard women's water polo team headed to Yale last weekend for the Ivy League Championships, and with some gutsy play managed to come away with second place honors, falling to Princeton in the final match.

"We played fairly well over the weekend and are pretty satisfied with how we did," sophomore Jesse Gunderson said. "We would have liked to have won, but we can definitely build on this."

The No. 20 Crimson started off strong, as expected, destroying Penn on Friday night by the score of 15-3.

Then on Saturday, Harvard continued its dominance, easily defeating Brown. The Crimson handed the Bears a 17-10 loss, earning a spot against the Tigers in the championship game.

"In the first two games we knew we were better than the other teams," Gunderson said, "so we just tried to work on some things to prepare for the championship game."

In the final, Harvard faced a Princeton team with which it is all too familiar. Last season, the Tigers--who are ranked in the top 15 in the nation--defeated the Crimson twice in overtime, in two highly contested games, making the Crimson eager for a victory.

Unfortunately for Harvard, however, it was not meant to be. The physical Princeton squad was able to get off too many shots on goal, while limiting the Crimson's scoring chances. In the end the lack of offense proved too much for Harvard to overcome, as the Tigers prevailed by the score of 8-3, to win the Ivy League crown.

"We played pretty well against Princeton, but not well enough," Gunderson said. "Their outside shots were all on net and we just didn't shoot enough."

Despite the loss, the Crimson came away from the tournament with high spirits, pleased with the progress it made.

"We are definitely satisfied with how we played overall," Gunderson said. "We could have played better against Princeton, but we've definitely improved, and hopefully when we play them again next week, we can pull out the win."