Goalkeeper Popping Up In the Nick of Time

When the score is tied with time running out on the clock and pressure mounting, the one man you want in the goal for your team is junior Alex Popp.

After the Harvard men’s water polo team graduated former goalkeepers Jay Connolly ’09 and Nikhil Balaraman ’10, the squad turned its eyes to Popp to step up to the plate. And he has fully lived up to those expectations this season.

Popp has made 71 saves in nine games, with a season-high of 14 saves against Princeton, Santa Clara, and Cal Baptist…and the season isn’t even halfway over.

At this rate, Popp will follow in the Crimson’s tradition of great goalies.

But success did not come easily for Popp. Starting in seventh grade, he showed up for the first day of water polo practice with little knowledge of the game.

“I showed up in gym shorts and scuba goggles,” Popp laughed while reminiscing. “I didn’t even know how to throw the ball, so it was a pretty tough experience. But the coach asked if I was going to come back tomorrow and I said, ‘Absolutely’.”

And that was just the start of his journey. After converting to the position of goalie in eighth grade, he continued on that path throughout high school. His team made the semifinals of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division I his sophomore year, the finals his junior year, and took home the prize his senior year.

Yet this nice progression to the championship almost didn’t happen. His outstanding moment as a goalie in high school proved why Popp should be the man in the goal when the game is on the line.

“In the semifinals [my senior year], we played the number one seed,” Popp remembered. “The game went to five overtime periods. In the fourth overtime, there was a penalty shot called on us, which is basically a point-blank shot. The guy comes up and takes the shot and I block it. In the fifth overtime period, I decided to rip the full-court shot, so I rip the ball and the ball went in.”

With his high school career coming to an end, Popp had to decide to which college he would provide his talents. For the Palo Alto, Calif. native, flying out to the east coast was not an automatic decision. In fact, he almost did not make it onto the Crimson.

“I came on a recruiting trip, but there were a couple of other goalies ahead of me that year,” Popp explained. “I was also talking to coaches at Stanford, Cal, and Pomona. And then [former Harvard head coach Erik] Ferrar called and said his other two goalies dropped out and asked if I wanted to come and I said, ‘Definitely’. So I got in and decided to come.”

Even with all the success in high school, the transition to college water polo was still a challenge.

“In Division I water polo, the shots are faster and the guys are a lot stronger,” Popp said. “I was pretty scrawny my freshman year, so it was a struggle and took a while to adapt.”

Luckily for him, he had two successful Crimson goalkeepers to look up to and learn from: Connolly and Balaraman.

“Connolly was probably the hardest working goalie I’ve ever met,” Popp said. “That intensity is something I’ve picked up. From Nikhil, who’s also a hard worker, I learned you have to have fun. You have to remember why you play the sport. You play the sport because you love it.”

“I think as a freshman and as a sophomore he was looking up to the older goalies on the team,” co-captain Bret Voith remarked. “He’s been able to realize his potential and how much he can causally affect the team. He’s been a real game-changer for us.”

But the crucial aspect that has proven to be the real game-changer for Popp is his mentality.

“Alex has grown in the mental aspects of game,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis observed. “In the last game, he was really focused and intense, but having fun doing it. He realizes now [the other team is] going to score sometimes, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to keep going. I think that has turned him into the goalie he is today.”

“I’ve come into place with my mental game a lot more this season,” Popp said. “I have one huge responsibility and it is something I cherish. You can change the momentum of the game. When you make a crucial block, that’s a huge pump-up for the team.”

He may prove to be just the pump-up the team needs. The Crimson is currently 3-6, but as Popp has proven throughout his career, the unthinkable is possible.

“I’ve always known we had the talent,” Popp said. “The fact we can play with these ranked teams, it means we can be a contender. I think the season’s going to end on an excellent note.”

And that mentality, which has proven to be so successful for Popp, just might be able to turn the season around.

—Staff writer Steven T.A. Roach can be reached at sroach@fas.harvard.edu.