Water Polo Heads West for Games

Harvard men’s water polo is about to go coast-to-coast.

After an impressive 10-8 win over Cambridge-rival MIT at Blodgett Pool last Saturday, the Crimson will head west for five games against a host of California opponents.

This weekend, the Harvard team will play in Claremont, Calif., as a part of the Claremont Convergence. The tournament has become an annual part of the Crimson’s schedule and usually includes some of the country’s toughest competition.

This year Harvard will go up against Occidental, No. 18 Pomona-Pitzer, Caltech, and Claremont-M-S in tournament play, and then face No. 5 UC Santa Barbara in a regular non-conference game.

The Crimson went into the tournament last year with an undefeated conference record but ended up dropping all four of its matches.

Harvard has struggled to get on track at some points early this season. It holds a 4-8 overall record and has yet to get a conference win.

While some of the Crimson’s weekend opponents have had similarly slow starts to the season, others have proven their talent against high-ranked teams.

UC Santa Barbara is a part of the West Coast’s elite group of collegiate water polo squads and will present a challenge for Harvard as it has seven wins so far, six of which have come over teams ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Although Pomona-Pitzer has a losing record, it has faced some of the nation’s best teams in other California invitationals.

But considering Occidental and Caltech are a combined 1-15, the Crimson has a good chance to improve its season record before coming home for a stretch of conference matchups.