SEASON RECAP: Rising Stars Boost Water Polo

You can usually expect it to take some time for a team full of young talent to get its footing, but in the case of Harvard women’s water polo, it took almost no time at all to prove its prowess in the pool.

The Crimson, despite dominating opponents at the top of its schedule, posted a 12-15 overall record and went 1-3 in division play.

“Ultimately, we didn’t finish as strongly as we hoped,” sophomore goalkeeper Laurel McCarthy said. “But we definitely accomplished some of the things we set out for at the beginning of the year.”

Opening the season at home at the Harvard Invitational, the Crimson went undefeated in the weekend’s four games. The biggest victory came first with a 16-2 decision over Villanova.

In the game, sophomore, rising co-captain, and team scoring leader Devan Kennifer recorded her first hat trick of the year, while nine more teammates tallied scores of their own.

Kennifer, who was named to the All-Northern Division First Team, followed up her impressive freshman year with an equally noteworthy performance early in her second season, scoring no less than three goals in the first five games.

Harvard went on to continue the winning trend as it traveled to New Jersey for the Princeton Invitational, where it racked up victories in another three of four games.

As the team’s veterans stepped up to contribute, so too did some of the Crimson’s newest additions.

Freshmen Elise Molnar and Aisha Price emerged as powerful players on Harvard’s offense.

“We’re a very young team, which makes us really optimistic about the future,” McCarthy said.

After nearly reaching double-digit scoring at the Harvard Invitational, Molnar was named the CWPA Northern Division Rookie of the Week.

Price, the Crimson’s Rookie of the Year and a member of the varsity soccer team, recorded some big goals, along with sophomore teammate Ita Barton-Kettleborough, as the team moved on to the ECAC Championships and the Elite Eight tournament—but the team began to falter.

Although Harvard beat Bucknell in a close overtime match at the Elite Eight just a week after the Bison had beaten them for fifth place at the ECAC Championships, it dropped to a 9-5 record.

As the Crimson headed across the country for spring break, it was challenged on defense as it went up against ranked opponents, including Cal State East Bay and Pacific.

McCarthy was kept busy in goal during the West Coast road trip and earned CWPA Northern Division Defensive Player of the Week honors as Harvard picked up three more wins and losses.

The Crimson returned to the Northeast and began conference play against 11th-ranked Hartwick, dropping the game, 15-8.

In one of the most exciting matchups of the season, Harvard took on rival Brown at home in Blodgett Pool and battled to a 7-6 overtime victory.

McCarthy kept the Bears’ powerful offense in check, giving the Crimson a chance to clinch the win.

“We got a great game out of our goalie,” Harvard coach Erik Farrar said after the win. “McCarthy played her best game of the year.”

Sophomore Monica Zdrojewski, an All-Northern Division first-team honoree, capitalized for the Crimson and scored the winning tally with just over a minute left in the extra period.

“I think that it was one of our best games,” Molnar said. “Technically...everything was really perfect.”

Unfortunately for Harvard, it couldn’t keep the momentum going and went on to lose its next five games.

With a group of young athletes and a new coach following Farrar’s resignation in May, the Crimson’s future may appear a bit uncertain, but returning players are confident the team will triumph and improve on this season’s disappointments.

“It’ll be interesting because we’re getting a big recruiting class, but for the first time in a long time we’ll have more upperclassmen than underclassmen,” McCarthy said. “We’ll see how it goes, but we know we’ll stick together no matter what.”

—Staff writer Madeleine Smith can be reached at smith21@college.harvard.edu.