Luka Babic found the back of the net against No. 15 Navy, but the Crimson fell, 20-5, Friday at Blodgett Pool (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Max Eliot opened the scoring 57 seconds into the game but No. 15 Navy rebounded to beat Harvard, 20-5, in the first round of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship at Blodgett Pool Friday. The loss sends the Crimson to the loser's bracket where they will compete at 3 p.m. Saturday.

After Eliot gave the Crimson a 1-0 lead, Navy proceeded to score four consecutive goals before Evan Zepfel cut into the Midshipmen lead with 1:06 remaining in the first period.

Navy added to its lead in the second with its ability to convert man-up advantages and also added a penalty shot to outscore the Crimson, 7-1, in the frame. The Midshipmen took a 12-3 lead into halftime and posted identical 4-1 tallies in the third and fourth quarters to finalize the decision, 20-5.

The Crimson, the Northern Division No. 4 seed, received goals from John Holland-McCowan, Luka Babic and Kevin DiSilvestro during the match.

Harvard was 1-for-4 on sprints and 1-for-6 in advantage opportunities in the loss.

The Crimson will face Bucknell, who lost a one-goal decision to No. 18 Brown, tomorrow afternoon. A win puts Harvard in the fifth-place game at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, while a loss drops the squad to the seventh-place game at 10 a.m.