Women's Water Polo Goes 3-1 in Weekend Tournament

At home in Blodgett Pool for the Harvard Invitational, the No. 16 Harvard women’s water polo team finished the weekend with three victories by double-digit margins and one loss that came in a disappointing fashion on senior night.

Saturday evening’s game against Princeton honored Crimson seniors Yoshi Andersen, Charlotte Hendrix, and Rachel Lobato, drawing a large crowd of Harvard supporters.

“[These seniors] came and took a chance to come here and they’ve led very well,” coach Ted Minnis said. “They are leaving as the winningest class ever.”

The Crimson (11-2) opened the weekend with a 13-goal victory over Mercyhurst (4-6), but was unable to keep the momentum through the evening. Harvard dropped a close contest against No. 20 Princeton (9-1) on Saturday afternoon before returning on Sunday with 11-goal wins over both Siena College (1-12) and Fresno Pacific (7-7).

HARVARD 18, FRESNO PACIFIC 7

The Crimson offense generated more than sufficient goals against Fresno Pacific, churning out 18 en route to an 11-goal victory over the Sunbirds. Freshman attacker Kristen Hong scored three times, bringing her total on the day to nine, and along with Andersen and sophomore attacker Sami Strutner, who each tallied four goals, led the team in sweeping day two of the Harvard Invitational.

Both sophomore Cleo Harrington and freshman Sam Acker spent time in goal for the Crimson to wrap up the tournament.

HARVARD 16, SIENA 5

Junior attacker Michelle Martinelli set the tone of the game by scoring 11 seconds into the first frame, and a supporting cast of junior attacker Melissa Balding, Hendrix, Lobato and Hong each found the net multiple times to pace Harvard in its victory over Siena, 16-5.

The Saints scored for the first time just before the end of the first half, making the halftime score 10-1.

The Crimson was outscored 3-1 in the third quarter, but recovered with five goals during the final period to finish the game with its first 11-goal victory of the day.

PRINCETON 12, HARVARD 8

Even with top Princeton goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson taking the year off to train for the Olympics, and Harvard entering the contest with the higher ranking and its best start to the season since 1995, the Crimson could not break its 21-game losing streak to the Tigers.

“We consider [Princeton] to be a huge rival for us and we knew it was going to be a big challenge,” Harrington said. “I think we came out not as confident as we should have. We were physically prepared for that game, but I think the mental side wasn’t quite there yet.”

Although Hong staked Harvard to an early 2-0 lead, Princeton quickly neutralized the score. In response, Strutner found the goal at the end of the first frame to give Harvard a 3-2 advantage after one quarter.

The Tigers matched the Crimson goal-for-goal in the second quarter, but just before the half, Princeton broke away with two unanswered goals to take a 7-5 lead, an advantage it didn’t relinquish.

Balding and Hong each found the net once during the third frame, and Hong scored the lone Harvard goal in the final quarter on a penalty shot, but their efforts were not enough to close the gap.

“I told the girls this didn’t define our season,” Minnis said. “We play Princeton at Michigan in….April and we’ll get another crack at them.”

HARVARD 17, MERCYHURST 4

Ten different players tallied goals for the Crimson, and a dominating first frame, in which it scored seven unanswered goals, sparked Harvard to a 13-goal victory over Mercyhurst.

Hendrix, Martinelli, Strutner, Lobato, and Hong all contributed to the offensive surge that pushed the Crimson to an early 7-0 lead.

“We came out really aggressive…. and with that attacking mentality,” Harrington said. “We wanted to make the other team react to us and I think we did a really good job of that.”

Freshman Colby Stapleton led Harvard in the second quarter with three goals. Andersen and Hong also each scored a goal to bring the Crimson to a 12-1 advantage at the half, setting Harvard up to maintain a decisive lead throughout the rest of the game.