Women's Water Polo Shuts Down Brown in Home Victory

After finishing last weekend’s tournament with a 1-2 mark, the No. 20 Harvard women’s water polo team returned home to the Blodgett Pool to host Brown in an Ivy League matchup on Thursday night.

In the first matchup this season against the Bears (17-16, 3-4 Ivy) in the Ivy League tournament, the Crimson (18-10, 5-2 Ivy) fell by one goal. This time, they came away with a tightly contested 7-6 victory at home. The win for Harvard concludes its regular season slate of home games. The squad was able to finish 4-1 overall at the Blodgett this year.

After the home team jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the game, Brown rebounded with three unanswered goals, propelling them ahead midway through the second period. The third came on a Harvard turnover that allowed Bears junior Olivia Santiago free access to the net.

The Crimson was able to rebound, as sophomore attacker Lexi del Toro skipped a shot under the outstretched arm of Bears freshman goalkeeper Marisol Dakan to even the score. Moments later, Harvard sophomore whole set Melissa Balding threw up a last-second shot that hit the mark, giving the home squad a 4-3 halftime lead that it would never relinquish.

In the third quarter, Crimson senior goalie Ariel Dukes did not allow a single shot to pass her, holding Brown scoreless. On the offensive side, both teams struggled and saw their shots deflect off the crossbar on numerous occasions.

Even though both teams suffered penalties that resulted in ejections early on in the frame, neither side could capitalize on its six-on-five advantage.

“Definitely executing on our shots will be one of the main things we focus on next week in practice,” Harvard co-captain Victoria Frager said. “We’ll keep working on inside water shooting and our six-on-five shots.”

Eventually, Harvard was able to extend its lead, as senior attacker Kalina Grabb fired a shot into the net after a cross-pool pass from Frager with 1:56 remaining in the third quarter.

Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, the Crimson again lit up the scoreboard, this time on a goal from sophomore attacker Michelle Martinelli. Only seconds after her penalty shot was turned away, Martinelli was able to earn a tally after her team forced a turnover on the next possession. However, Harvard’s three-goal advantage did not last long, as just 40 seconds later Brown responded with another score from Santiago that cut the lead to two.

With six minutes left in the contest, the Bears again put a ball past the Harvard goaltender, reducing the Crimson’s lead to one. But that was as close as they would get, as Harvard sophomore defender Zoe Osborne buried a shot into the net for the second time on the day. This put Brown at a two-score deficit they were unable to recover from.

Despite another score from the Bears with two minutes to go, Harvard was able to stall by throwing the ball around the pool while the last half minute of play expired.

“I think we missed a lot of shots,” Harvard coach Ted Minnis said. “Brown does a very good job of disguising their defense and making it look like we have open shots when we actually don’t.”

Also scoring a goal for the Crimson in the game was junior attacker Yoshi Andersen, who was CWPA’s most recent player of the week. Brown’s additional tallies came on a pair of scores by sophomore Shannon Crowley and a third goal from Santiago, earning her a hat trick in the game.

The seven goals scored is tied for the lowest offensive output for Harvard in a winning game, matching its total in a win over Cal St. Monterey Bay last month.

“It’s gotten to that time of year where you just have to get wins,” Minnis said. “We need to get a couple more to finish out the season strong going into the postseason, so we’re in that ‘win and survive’ mode right now.”