Brown Earns Rout in Ivy Title Match

If Harvard women’s water polo coach Erik Farrar was nervous about his team’s trip to the Ivy Championship tournament this weekend at Brown, he had every right to be.

In addition to the usual opening-weekend jitters, the Crimson had to deal with an injury-filled bench and a starting lineup that contained four freshmen and just two upperclassmen.

Even with these setbacks the Crimson took second place overall, going 3-2 on the weekend to take second place in the tournament.

Harvard faced the Bears in the championship game after defeating Penn in the semifinals. But Brown proved too good for the Crimson, running away to a 11-4 victory.

Harvard managed to keep the game close in the first half, but fatigue wore them out as the game went on.

“We got tired towards the end because we were low on numbers,” junior co-captain Vivian Liao said. “They beat us with speed, especially in the second half.”

“Five games in two days is kind of a lot,” junior co-captain Lauren Snyder added.

The scarcity of players on the Crimson bench was no more apparent than on Saturday when freshmen goaltender Ariel Delgado volunteered to strap on a field cap so that her teammates could get some extra rest.

After guarding the cage in the morning, a 10-9 loss to Wagner, Delgado came in as a substitute and scored a goal in a 5-3 win over Villanova.

“She never practices in the field,” Snyder said. “She is just a fast swimmer with a good shot.”

While Delgado took her turn in the field, sophomore Nicola Perlman boasted 10 saves while guarding the cage.

Delgado was not the only freshmen that had an impressive weekend.

Fellow freshmen starters Kristina Bergquist and Kathryn Bilder had two goals apiece in the game against the Seahawks, and rookie Roxanne Pinto chipped in a goal as well.

“We have a really talented freshmen class… they all had some great moments,” Snyder said. “They were really excited and were playing really well.”

While it is encouraging that the Crimson got such strong contributions from its freshmen, the most important part of the weekend was a chance to get some game experience as a team.

“The main thing is that this was our first actual tournament together,” Liao said. “Just coming together as a team was important, and I think we did a really great job of that.”

Harvard also faced club teams from Dartmouth and Penn.

Against the Big Green, Snyder and Pinto tallied three goals apiece while Delgado racked up eight saves between the pipes.

Fueled by its offense, the Crimson coasted to an easy 11-2 victory.

Harvard only led by 3-2 at halftime in its contest against the Quakers. But the Crimson pulled away in the fourth quarter to win, 7-4. Freshman Kelly Peeler scored a goal, her second of the night, with a minute remaining in regulation to seal the victory.

For their impressive performances this weekend, Delgado, Pinto, Liao, and Snyder were named to the All-Tournament team.

Harvard has two weeks off to continue to get healthy before returning to action against Hartwick on February 24.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Julia R. Senior can be reached at jrsenior@fas.harvard.edu.