Men's Water Polo Places 8th at Tournament

Away from the friendly confines of Blodgett Pool, the Harvard men’s water polo team stumbled this past weekend at the ECAC Championships, suffering its first multi-loss weekend of the season to finish in eighth place.

Coming off an impressive comeback win against MIT, the team lost a bit of luster in foreign waters, losing two games on Saturday against Princeton and Johns Hopkins, 10-8 and 13-11, respectively.

The frustration continued yesterday, as the Crimson finished the weekend with its largest margin of defeat, falling 17-11 to George Washington.

Marked by offensive inconsistency and an unusual number of turnovers, Harvard resembled a shell of its normally balanced self en route to a frustratingly dismal weekend.

“There were a couple of drops in intensity where our passes were about a foot off,” co-captain Chris Ludwick said. “The execution just wasn’t there, and we came out a little bit slow in all three games.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON 17, HARVARD 11

Trying to rebound from its first losing streak of the season, the Crimson stayed fairly even with the Colonials through the first period.

But unfortunately, the turnover affliction that haunted Harvard throughout the weekend once again loomed large yesterday.

“Turnovers were most pronounced in the third game, and we just gave up streaks of goals,” Ludwick said.

After having tied the game at 5, George Washington emphatically ended any prospects of a Crimson victory, scoring six straight goals to regain a lead that would not be relinquished.

Although the score would suggest otherwise, junior netminder Jay Connolly had an impressive performance, registering 16 saves against a Colonial attack that proved to be unrelenting in its offensive forays.

Fellow classmate David Tune also put in a stellar performance, leading the team with four goals and drawing two ejections.

“David Tune played some of the best water polo I’ve ever seen him play,” Connolly said. “As a team, though, we just have to stay sharp all the time. We have the individual pieces, and it’s all a matter of putting it together.”

JOHNS HOPKINS 13, HARVARD 11

“I’ve never seen a referee call like that before ever,” Tune said.

Johns Hopkins was awarded a penalty in the first half, and as the play occurred, the head official ejected sophomore Spencer Livingston from the game for moving towards the penalty taker during the play.

Although the decision was a curious one to make, there was nothing unusual about Johns Hopkins’ strategy for the rest of the game.

The Blue Jays capitalized on Harvard’s misfortunes, scoring six goals on man-advantage opportunities and effectively counter-attacking off of the Crimson’s turnover woes.

After Livingston’s ejection, the burden of offensive responsibility fell upon the shoulders of Tune and sophomore Egen Atkinson.

The team had eight different individuals land on the scoresheet, as Atkinson lead the team with three goals.

“When Spence [Livingston] was ejected, it fell on Egen and I to step up,” Tune said. “We fought hard and gave 110 percent.

“Egen did a great job, and it was huge for us to try and stay in the game,” he added.

Even with the ejection and turnover troubles, Harvard fought valiantly until the final whistle, ultimately coming up short by two goals.

PRINCETON 10, HARVARD 8

Serving as a precursor to the rest of the weekend, the Crimson jumped out to an early lead against the Tigers and held a 5-4 lead at the onset of the second quarter before succumbing to a string of turnovers and allowing Princeton to gain the lead in the second half and pull away for the victory.

“We just had two minutes where there were a couple of turnovers, and the game just changed,” Ludwick said.

Although the Crimson tried mounting a comeback in the fourth after being down, 9-6, the Tigers upped their defensive staunchness to hold on for the win.

“All it takes is one miscue to create a turnover,” Ludwick said. “We need to really put in that extra effort and be individually accountable for every possession every game.”

—Staff writer Mauricio A. Cruz can be reached at cruz2@fas.harvard.edu.