CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 7 women's water polo heads west for the Aztec Invite in San Diego as it looks to continue its winning ways during the annual California trip.

The Crimson will play four straight ranked opponents in one weekend for the second time this season when it faces off against No. 2 USC, No. 9 UC San Diego, No. 14 Michigan, and No. 15 Indiana. Thirteen of the 17 total games this season have been against ranked opponents, while the Crimson has a 12-1 record against teams that find themselves in the national rankings.

Harvard plays USC at 12:20 p.m. before playing UC San Diego at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Crimson closes the weekend with a conference matchup against Michigan at 12:00 p.m. and a rematch with Indiana at 6:00 p.m., with all times listed in Eastern Time. The game against UCSD will be the only matchup on ESPN+.

Harvard currently holds the longest winning streak among ranked teams, with 14 consecutive victories.

WHAT TO KNOW

• The meeting with USC will be the first since 1997 and the highest-ranked opponent since the Crimson played No. 8 ASU and No. 3 Stanford in back-to-back games last season.
• By the end of the weekend, the Crimson will have played eight straight ranked games.
• The Crimson will play UCSD, Michigan, and Indiana for the second time this season.
• Harvard beat then-No. 11 UCSD 11-8 at Blodgett Pool after an 11-save game from Orli Cooper and a hat trick from Emma Gilbert.
• The Crimson easily handled CWPA foe Michigan, defeating the Wolverines 14-3 to propel Harvard to its best start since 2019.
• In a highly anticipated rematch with Indiana slated for Sunday, Harvard has the opportunity to defeat the team that handed it its only loss of the season.
• Ted Minnis won his 250th career game after defeating Brown last weekend and improved to 251 career wins after a win over Marist in the afternoon game.
• Harvard moved up two spots in the most recent ACWPC poll, jumping up to No. 7. Ranked No. 8 in the CWPA poll and now No. 7 in the ACWPC poll, it is the highest rankings in program history.
• Niki Piovan won CWPA Rookie of the Week after scoring 10 points in two games last weekend.

NEXT UP
The Crimson remains in California next week and will play three more games, starting with San Jose State on Friday at 4:00 p.m.