Photo of: Shannon Purcell found the back of the net twice in
both of Harvard's wins on the first day of the Princeton
Invitational.
Photo courtesy of Gil Talbot Photography.
PRINCETON, N.J.- The Harvard women's water polo
team kept its record spotless with a pair of wins at the Princeton
Invitational. The Crimson outlasted Iona and stole an overtime
thriller away from Wagner.
Harvard opened up the day with a 15-14 win over Iona. After
leading 6-5 at halftime, the Crimson found itself trailing 12-11
heading into the fourth quarter. Harvard stormed back to score four
goals in the final eight minutes and only allowed two to remain
unbeaten. Sophomore Devan Kennifer netted her fifth goal of the
game to put Harvard ahead with 3:24 left to play. Aisha Price,
Shannon Purcell and Monica Zdrojewski each tallied a pair of goals
in the contest. Lizzie Abbott, Kristina Bergquist, Elise Molnar and
Roxanne Pinto provided the rest of the offense for the Crimson with
a goal apiece. Laurel McCarthy turned aside 10 shots in the
contest.
The Crimson closed out the first day of competition at the
Princeton Invitational with a stellar come-from-behind 10-8
overtime victory over Wagner. Harvard found itself down 5-1 after
the opening quarter. The Crimson clawed right back into the game in
the second quarter, outscoring the Seahawks 3-0 to cut the lead to
5-4 entering halftime. Zdrojewski knotted the score at 8-8 with her
second goal of the contest with 35 seconds remaining in regulation.
As the squads battled it out in bonus water polo, Molnar scored her
lone goal of the game to give Harvard its first lead of the contest
just one minute into the extra frame. Kennifer also found the back
of the net in overtime as an insurance goal and added 10 steals in
the contest. McCarthy turned in yet another outstanding
performance, recording nine saves including stopping a penalty shot
in the second half. Abbott, Purcell and Ita Kettleborough-Barton
all tallied two goals in the contest.
Harvard (5-0) concludes the event as it faces No. 5 Michigan to
begin the second day and George Washington to finish the weekend.
