Men's Water Polo's Season Ends at CWPA Eastern Championships

It was a good weekend for the Harvard men’s water polo team outside of the pool. Crimson coach Ted Minnis was named CWPA’s coach for the year in his fourth year heading the program. Sophomore Ben Zepfel earned CWPA first-team honors, and sophomore Noah Harrison and freshman Joey Colton were both named to the second team.

But the story was different inside the pool, as the Crimson could not end its season on a high note. At the CWPA Championships in Providence this weekend, the team finished in sixth place with a record of 1-2.

BROWN 15, HARVARD 9

Sunday saw the fifth matchup between the Crimson (18-14) and the Bears (23-13) this season, with Brown able to come out on top, winning the series three games to two.

“We knew we were going to have to play our best game,” Minnis said. “These two teams know each other very well. If you look over the last two years this was probably the 10th or 11th time they have played.”

Harvard came out strong against a Bears team that relied heavily on its upperclassmen, with four straight goals that went unanswered. Tied at four heading into the second quarter, Brown was able to outscore Harvard four goals to two during the seven minutes, and led 8-6 going into halftime.

The Crimson cut the Bears’ lead to four in the fourth quarter on a goal by Colton, but that would be Harvard’s last score of the night as Brown went on to score twice more in the final minutes of the game.

“[Despite the loss], I think we played excellent defense this weekend. Our communication and awareness were phenomenal,” freshman 2-meter defender Dan Stevens said.

HARVARD 8, MIT 6

In the second game of the tournament, the Crimson was able to bounce back from a loss the previous night and come together in a victory over the Engineers (13-16).

Harvard came alive in the second half of the game, scoring five of its eight goals in the final two periods. After a slow start in which the Crimson trailed MIT, 5-3, in the second period, the defense took over and did not let any of the Engineers’ eight shots on goal fall between the posts.

“We came in and we were definitely on the letdown,” Minnis said. “We were a little flat and didn’t get going early offensively or defensively and ended up getting down 5-3 going into halftime, but we settled down and focused on getting shots on their defense pushing the ball into transition.”

During Harvard’s comeback in the third quarter, the Crimson took a shot that was blocked by the goalie, but Zepfel rebounded the block by beating both MIT’s goalie and defender to the ball and shooting it into the back of the net.

PRINCETON 9, HARVARD 7

Despite a strong start to the game, the Crimson could not close out a victory against the Tigers (22-5) on Friday night, as the team lost to sixth-seeded Princeton for the second time this season.

“We played well, there was not one play that could have cost us the game,” Minnis said. “Princeton scored two goals [late] that were great goals…it could have gone either way…we were a minute and a half from placing in the top four in the tournament.”

Harvard was able to win the first half of play, going into halftime with a 4-3 lead. But during the fourth quarter, the Tigers pressed ahead and scored three goals, none of which were answered by the Crimson.

“We got stagnant on offense which I think fed their counter-attack,” Stevens said. “Princeton is an aggressive team so when we failed on the offensive end, even for only one or two possessions, they will capitalize and they did.”

Stevens led Harvard with three goals during the game, followed close behind by sophomore Noah Harrison who had two. Sophomore goalie Colin Woolway had four saves in the loss.

Princeton was able to surge ahead in the fourth quarter with three unanswered goals that ended the Crimson’s hopes of a victory. Sophomore center defender Thomas Nelson and junior attacker Drew Hoffenberg each had three goals apiece, while the game winning goal went to freshman Curtis Fink.

“We had Princeton…but we let the momentum shift in their favor at the end and that killed us,” Stevens said.