Men's Water Polo Sweeps Away Three Conference Opponents

Weekend sweeps are becoming a new trend for the No. 12 Harvard men’s water polo team.

After winning all five games at the Santa Clara Bronco Invite last weekend, the Crimson (17-8, 9-3 CWPA Northern) recorded two victories on Saturday and one on Sunday at home to improve its winning streak to eight.

The Crimson had its final regular season contest on Sunday against Iona, but Saturday’s game against Fordham had added importance—Harvard was able to emerge victorious on senior night.

“We’re really confident in ourselves and the way we’re playing right now,” freshman attacker Nathan Ondracek said. “We’re really turning it on for the end of the season, which is great going into the last two weekends.”

Following the weekend sweep, head coach Ted Minnis has 94 career wins, which is the second most all-time for a Harvard water polo coach.

HARVARD 19, IONA 9

After prevailing in the first two games of the weekend, Harvard found the back of the net early and often against the Gaels (5-13, 3-7).

Backed by a wide range of scorers, the Crimson was able to score 11 goals by the end of the first half, six of which were unanswered.

Senior attacker Noah Harrison scored back-to-back goals as part of the 6-0 run. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native also scored a game-high five goals.

Freshman attacker Nick Bunn recorded a hat-trick, his second of the year.

All three Crimson goalies got playing time in net, and despite four straight Iona goals to finish the game, Harvard’s defensive unit was strong, keeping the ball out of its half for much of the game.

HARVARD 12, FORDHAM 7

True to its name, senior night was all about the seniors in the pool. Facing off against Fordham (16-13, 5-7), Harvard commanded an early lead and never relinquished it, and several seniors had big impacts that led to a win for the Crimson.

“They’ve set the bar really high for the younger guys and the future people that will come here and play for us,” Minnis said. “I’m very proud of them, and I’m glad we’ve still got another couple of weeks with them.”

Harvard jumped out to a 6-3 lead after two quarters of play with the help of goals by co-captain Ben Zepfel and senior attacker Blake Lee. Senior goalie Colin Woolway also aided the first half effort, adding two cross-pool assists.

Lee kept up his offensive impact in the second half, notching back-to-back goals to put the Crimson up, 8-3. Zepfel followed his teammate’s lead, adding two straight goals of his own.

Fordham managed to record three straight goals and cut Harvard’s lead to three, but Ondracek’s tally and senior attacker Christopher Miao’s goal secured the Crimson win.

HARVARD 14, ST. FRANCIS (N.Y.) 11

In the closest game of the weekend, the Crimson prevailed over St. Francis after four quarters of back-and-forth lead changes.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Crimson trailed, 10-9. After a goal by sophomore utility Colin Chiapello to knot the score at 10 apiece, St. Francis center defender Ilija Djuretic answered with his game-high fifth score to put the Terriers up by one.

But as the clock ticked down, Harvard rallied and took control of the contest. Lee recorded his third goal, Harrison netted two straight scores, and junior 2-meter defender Dan Stevens added another to give the Crimson a 14-11 advantage.

“We were confident the whole way,” Ondracek said. “We knew they were going to come out tough, and we knew we each had to play our game and stay with it. We’re really in shape, and so by the fourth quarter we were able to put them away.”

From the start of the weekend’s opening game, no team was able to jump out to a large lead. Neither Harvard nor St. Francis led by a margin of more than one goal in the first half, and after two quarters of play the Terriers held a slim lead over the home team.