Women's Water Polo Places Fourth At Northerns

At the Northern Division Championships this past weekend, the Harvard women's water polo team met up with one familiar rival and one longtime nemesis.

Both ended up getting the better of the Crimson.

Harvard (12-9, 1-4 Ivy) went 1-2 in its three games this weekend, placing fourth in the nine-team tournament, which was hosted at Blodgett Pool. The Crimson missed out on a chance to place among the top three finishers by falling to Brown 7-5 in the third-place game yesterday. The game was a back-and-forth battle between two heated rivals, but the Bears emerged in the end to take the rubber match in their three-game season series with the Crimson.

Hartwick ended up capturing first place this weekend after edging Umass, 5-4, in yesterday's title match. Harvard had already beaten Hartwick this season, but failed to earn the chance to play them again for the title after losing to the Minutewomen 10-7 in the semifinals.

The Crimson, who also dropped a 6-5 heartbreaker to UMass earlier this season, has never beaten the Minutewomen.

"UMass has been a real nemesis for us," co-captain Natasha Magnuson said. "Overall, though, we are very evenly matched and on any given day, one team can be better than the other. [Saturday's loss] was a really tight game."

Of course, Harvard was not helped by a recent slew of injuries that left the team shorthanded this weekend. Just this week, one player has come down with mononucleosis and another recently suffered a broken thumb.

Still, most of those Crimson players who were healthy performed quite well. Junior goalkeeper Danielle McCarthy was especially noteworthy, even in the team's losing efforts.

"She's very consistent," co-captain Jeese Gunderson said. ""She can read shots well, and she's always on her toes. She's just very solid and reliable."

In the weekend's opening round, Harvard downed Iona 7-5. Gunderson paced the Crimson attack with a remarkable five goals.

With the win, the Crimson officially qualified for the Eastern Championships, which will take place in two weeks. By virtue of its losses in its two other games this weekend, however, the Crimson will receive a lower seed than it would have liked and will probably play a tough Princeton squad.

But before competing at Easterns, Harvard will first have a quick shot at redemption against UMass. Following a tune-up against B.C. this Wednesday, Harvard will meet the Minutewomen yet again at the Brown Invitational this weekend.

Though the Crimson has never pulled off the feat before, Gunderson believes that Harvard might at last be capable of overtaking UMass.

"If we can just continue the highs and minimize the lows that we had against them this weekend, there's a lot of evidence that we can beat them," she said.

If it can indeed pull off the upset, the Crimson might just gather up enough momentum to make a run at Easterns.