Sophomores Lead Crimson to Sixth Place at ECACs

They walked into Princeton’s DeNunzio Pool ranked seventh in the ECAC Women’s Water Polo Championships. They walked out in sixth.

While not a big leap, for the members of Harvard’s women’s water polo team, a jump in tournament standings after only one win and two losses was still pretty nice.

Falling early Saturday to the No. 2 seed Marist (4-6) by two goals, the Crimson (7-3) came from behind to pick off Wagner (3-7) with a 14-9 victory. The momentum couldn’t continue, though, as Harvard lost to Bucknell (5-2) in yesterday’s matchup.

“We didn’t do as well as we had hoped that we would do, but we did a lot of things well this weekend that hopefully we will be able to carry into next weekend,” sophomore Shannon Purcell said.

BUCKNELL 9, HARVARD 7

Even with 32 shots against Bucknell goalie Allison Carter and goals on each of its three six-on-five chances, Harvard couldn’t hold on to a 3-3 tie at halftime, letting the Bison steal the win in the third quarter.

The Crimson recorded the same number of goals as Bucknell in the first, second, and fourth quarters, but the Bisons slipped two shots by Harvard sophomore goalie Laurel McCarthy in the third, giving Bucknell the lead.

McCarthy’s four saves helped make it a sophomore morning, as three of the Crimson’s sophomores saw their shots hit the back of the net. Monica Zdrojewski took the lead with a hat trick, while classmate Ita Barton-Kettleborough tallied two and Lizzie Abbott grabbed one. Freshman Elise Molnar rounded out the score with a goal of her own.

Even with an aggressive offense, 11 penalties plagued Harvard, leading to five goals on Bucknell power plays to end the weekend.

“We just stopped acting like a team that wanted to score,” Molnar said. “We lost that fire and that drive to finish to the end.”

HARVARD 14, WAGNER 9

Harvard faced a similarly tight game the night before, as the Crimson found itself down 6-3 at halftime. An 11-3 run before the final buzzer solidified Harvard’s only win of the weekend.

“We had played Wagner before, and last time was a pretty close game, but we knew exactly how they played,” said Purcell, who was one of six Crimson players to score. “We went into it with the mindset of we know we should be able to beat them, and we’ll just play our game, and the outcome should be as we want it to be.”

Down 3-1 in the first quarter, the Crimson knew it needed to switch gears. With McCarthy locking down a solid defense in the third quarter, Harvard held the Seahawks to a solitary goal before tallying four of its own. McCarthy had nine saves throughout the match, giving the offense room to breathe in the final quarter.

Tied at seven with eight minutes left, Harvard racked up seven more tallies, led by sophomore goal-leader Devan Kennifer, who scored four goals for the second time that day. Junior Patricia Smith recorded a hat trick, while five other Crimson players found the back of the net.

“It’s always really hard going into a tournament and losing the first game, but I think that we’ve shown that we are a team that can come back from a loss and come back just as hard,” Molnar said.

MARIST 12, HARVARD 10

Earlier Saturday, Harvard again faced a deficit going into halftime against the No. 2 seeded team in the tournament.

Down 7-3 after the second quarter, the Red Foxes seemed poised for an easy win, but another four-score game from Kennifer, as well as two points each from Molnar and Zdrojewski, created doubts.

The Crimson grabbed a burst of energy in the third period, scoring three goals, and found itself down one in the fourth period with five minutes left on the clock. Harvard managed to score two more before time expired, but Marist grabbed three, leaving the final score 12-10 in the Red Foxes’ favor.

“It took us a little time to get our shooting down,” Purcell said, reflecting on all three of the Crimson’s games. “I think that even though [our ability to capitalize on shooting opportunities] is something we lost, it’s something that’s easily correctable. I think just this week with practice working on that, we shouldn’t have any problems in the future.”

—Staff writer Alex Sopko can be reached at sopko@fas.harvard.edu.