Photo of Jeff Lee courtesy DSPics.com.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Bret Voith tallied three goals and Jeff Lee and and Egen Atkinson found the back of the net twice, but the Harvard men's water polo team dropped two matches at the MIT Invitational Saturday.

In the night cap, Harvard went on the offensive early and led Claremont (1-2), 6-4, in the third quarter, but the Stags went on a 6-0 run to take a 10-6 lead with 2:30 left to play in the contest.  With time winding down in the fourth, Atkinson got Harvard within two goals, and Voith netted another before time expired, but the Crimson could not find the equalizer and fell, 10-9.

Voith had a hat trick against the Stags, while Atkinson had two, followed by Mike Katzer, Jeff Lee, Evan Zepfel and Alex Thompson who tallied one goal apiece.  Nikhil Balaraman made seven saves, including one on a penalty shot. 

Earlier in the day, Alexandre Popp made eight saves against No. 13 Pacific (3-0), but the Crimson dropped its opener, 17-4.  Harvard (0-2) trailed 4-2 to Pacific for an extended period in the second quarter, but could not inch closer.  Thompson, Lee, Luka Babic and Kevin DiSilvestro each netted goals for the Crimson against the Tigers.

Atkinson played stellar defense, making four steals, and Harvard finished 2-for-7 on man-up opportunities in the opening contest against Pacific.

"We improved dramatically as a team from the opening whistle to the closing whistle," said Harvard head coach Erik Farrar.  "Pacific is a great team and we accomplished a lot of good things today."

The Crimson will conclude the MIT Invitational by facing Redlands Sunday at 2:45 p.m.