Senior Jeff Lee had two goals and an assist in Sunday's win over Cal Lutheran (photo courtesy of Gil Talbot).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – It was a day of firsts in the pool for the Harvard men's water polo team at the MIT Invitational, as the Crimson got its first win of 2010, 12-8, over Cal Lutheran, and new head coach Ted Minnis earned his first collegiate coaching victory.

The win improves Harvard to 1-1 on the year. Harvard led for most of the game, leading 4-3 after the first period and 10-7 at halftime. The team focused on playing tough defense in the second half, and it worked, as the Crimson allowed just one goal to Cal Lutheran in the final two periods.

 “We were playing real well,” said Minnis, “So we talked about playing defense and really playing hard on the defensive end. I was really proud of the defensive effort by the guys.”

Senior Alex Thompson led the team in scoring for the second time in the tournament with four goals Sunday. Senior captain Bret Voith added three goals and an assist and senior Jeff Lee had two goals and a helper to lead the Crimson. Junior goalie Alexandre Popp had 11 saves.

Harvard will travel to Princeton, N.J., on Friday to play in the Princeton Invitational, Sept. 11-12, where they will take on nationally-ranked teams Princeton, Santa Clara and Cal Baptist, as well as East Coast opponent George Washington.