Women's Water Polo Wins One, Drops Two at Aztec Invitational

The Harvard women’s water polo team has come to rely on its pressurized defense and steady goalkeeping to give it a leg up over most of its opponents this season.

The story, however, has not been so bright on the other side of the pool.

The Crimson’s recent trip to the Aztec Aquaplex at San Diego State University, where it posted a 1-2 record at the Aztec Invitational, demonstrated the lack of scoring consistency that Harvard (12-4) had been able to keep cloaked all season long. While it provided a few outbursts on the attack, the erratic offensive output came back to bite the team in the form of its first losing tournament record of the year.

“We lacked a little bit in the offensive area,” said co-captain Yoshi Andersen. “One thing that we really have to improve on is executing shots that we should make, and not letting those slip through our fingers…I thought we just didn’t play as consistently as we needed to.”

The Crimson opened the tournament by falling to No. 20 San Diego State, 9-5, before exploding for a ten-goal victory over Chapman, 16-6. The final game of the weekend, however, proved to be an illustration of Harvard’s inability to generate consistent goals, as it fell behind early and never regained footing against No. 11 UC San Diego, losing 10-7.

“We’re encountering teams with different strengths and capabilities…we’re playing teams that we don’t normally play, that we don’t know a lot about,” junior attacker Melissa Balding said. “Just playing different teams highlights where we need to make adjustments.”

UC SAN DIEGO 10, HARVARD 7

The Crimson entered the final quarter staring at an 8-4 deficit to the Tritons (18-6), and for a moment, Harvard looked like it came alive when it pulled the game back to 9-7 with just over three minutes remaining. Andersen, junior attacker Charlotte Hendrix, and freshman attacker Kristen Hong ignited the small rally with three goals in just over three minutes. However, UCSD senior goalie Courtney Miller, the 2015 WWPA Player of the Year, shut the game down thereafter, adding an insurance goal with ten seconds left sealed the Crimson’s fate.

“We really feed off each other’s enthusiasm and energy, and we found that energy in the 4th quarter, which is a bummer because we found it too late,” Balding said. “Had we been able to really use that energy and momentum throughout the game, I think we could have come out victorious.”

UCSD took a 3-2 lead out of the first quarter and never looked back, shutting Harvard out in the second frame and riding a 6-2 halftime lead to its 11th straight win and a sweep of the Aztec Invitational. Along the way, the Tritons downed three straight top-25 ranked teams in two days.

“Sometimes we overthink our spots a lot,” Andersen said. “It’s something we’ve been working on the whole season, [to] instead go on our instincts. By thinking too much, or reading the goalie, the defense can get on us.”

The team will look to get better at adjusting to the different teams that it’d be playing against during its nine-game California swing.

“I think that’s something we’re looking to take with us as we do have six more games in California, to take that energy and that spike that we had in the fourth quarter, to bring it to the [entirety] of the rest of our games,” Balding said.

HARVARD 16, CHAPMAN 6

The flip side of the coin is when the Crimson offense provides a flurry of scoring that quickly overwhelms its foes. Sunday’s morning game against the Panthers (3-11) provided just that illustration.

Harvard banged out an 11-0 run out of the opening sprint, spearheaded by opening goals from Andersen and junior attacker Michelle Martinelli, along with three goals each from Hong and sophomore attacker Sami Strutner. The Crimson took a commanding 13-1 lead into the halftime break and cruised from there.

SAN DIEGO STATE 9, HARVARD 5

The opening match against the host Aztecs (8-11) provided little in the way of offensive excitement after Andersen’s opening pair of tallies. After holding a 2-0 first-quarter lead, Harvard came to a halt, and SDSU scored five unanswered en route to handing the Crimson just its third loss of the year.

Although Harvard clawed its way back to 5-4 on two third-quarter goals, the Aztecs put the game away with four in the final frame.

The Crimson’s loss was its first defeat this season to a sub-.500 team.

—Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bryan.hu@thecrimson.com.