Late Surge Pushes Men's Water Polo to Victory

Since the fall of 1980, the Harvard and MIT men’s water polo teams have faced off on 102 occasions, with the Crimson claiming victory in 81 of those matches. Wednesday night was nothing out of the ordinary, as Harvard defeated the Engineers, 12-10, at MIT’s Alumni Pool in East Cambridge, Mass.

In a close matchup between the cross-town rivals, the Crimson (14-5, 4-3 CWPA) and the Engineers (8-10, 3-3) were tied with nine goals apiece going into the fourth period. Led by strong closing performances from junior 2-meter Ben Zepfel and sophomore 2-meter defender Dan Stevens, Harvard outscored MIT three to one in the final period. Stevens’ late goal, with 33 seconds left in the contest, secured the victory for the Crimson.

Coming off of a successful weekend during which the Engineers defeated No. 13 Brown and Connecticut College for a clean record within CWPA Northern play, MIT was looking to continue its three-game win streak and gain momentum going into the home stretch of the season, but Harvard was not going to let that happen.

Crimson junior goalie Colin Woolway emphasized the importance of defensive play for Harvard in the second half of the game against a strong Engineers team, allowing just three goals compared to the seven given up in the first half of play. Last weekend, the Crimson struggled on defense, giving up 34 goals over two games, but this weekend the team had much better success keeping the ball out of the net.

“We decided at half-time to really buckle down,” Woolway said. “After the third quarter, we decided to ramp [our defense] up even further and that allowed us to get the win.”

Other key contributors for the Harvard side include freshman utility Colin Chiapello and sophomore attacker Joey Colton, who each scored two goals. Junior attacker Blake Lee also added three goals in the game.

Harvard coach Ted Minnis made it clear that limiting penalties and solid teamwork gave his team a major advantage against MIT. The Engineers suffered five ejections compared to the Crimson’s two, giving Harvard several chances to score with extra players in the pool.

“We minimized our ejections and didn’t allow them to play 6 on 5, which is something they are very good at,” Minnis said. “ It was just a good team effort. When we needed goals we got goals. I thought we played really solid all the way around.”

With this win, the Crimson has won eight of its last 10 games, including a major upset against No. 16 Whittier to end its California swing with a perfect 5-0 record. The team has been anchored by an especially strong and experienced offense.

“We’ve realized that we have a good enough offensive team where we can have a slightly off day,” Woolway said. “But as long as we’re playing up to our potential defensively, we can play with and compete with anyone in the country.”

This coming weekend, Harvard will enter as the third-ranked seed in the 2014 Ivy League Water Polo Championship. Brown and Princeton have dominated play in the Ancient Eight in recent years. Between the two squads, the Bears and the Tigers have won all of the Ivy League Water Polo Championships since the event began in 2010.

Minnis discussed his excitement for this weekend’s event, noting that although most of the games will not count towards their conference schedule, the Ivy League competition is an exciting opportunity for the team to face Ancient Eight foes the team doesn’t typically get to face in the regular season.

“Whenever you get to play in an Ivy League Championship, that’s what’s exciting. That’s what everyone on campus loves,” Minnis said. “Yeah, that’s great that we beat MIT but when we beat Brown, or when we beat Princeton, or when we beat Yale, then everybody else is going to be a little more excited about [men’s water polo].”