CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 8 women's water polo travels to Indianapolis this week for the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the Crimson is set to face off against No. 4 USC in its first-ever trip to the national tournament.

First sprint is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. from the IU Natatorium and will stream live on NCAA.com.

FOR THE FIRST TIME

• Coming off its first CWPA Championship on April 27, the Crimson heads to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
• Harvard defeated the nationally ranked Princeton Tigers in overtime after splitting the regular season series with their Ivy League rivals.
• Maya O'Dea netted a hat trick in the title game, including a goal in overtime that gave the Crimson a one-goal lead in the extra frame.
• Orli Cooper was stellar in net, making 14 saves — 11 of which came in the second half and overtime.
• Head Coach Ted Minnis was named Coach of the Tournament, while Niki Piovan was honored as Rookie of the Tournament. Cooper was named Most Valuable Player and joined Maya O'Dea, Dany Zapata, and Ruby Hodge on the All-Tournament First Team. Emma Gilbert earned Second Team honors.

NATIONALLY RANKED WINS

• Harvard enters the national tournament with 16 ranked wins.
• The Crimson defeated LIU, Wagner, UCSB, Princeton, UCSD, Michigan, CBU, Brown, Marist, and SJSU.

CRIMSON AND TROJANS BY THE NUMBERS

• The Trojans have outscored their opponents 536–285, a goal differential of +251.
• Harvard has outscored its opponents 440–223, a goal differential of +217.
• USC has two players with 50+ assists, while Ruby Hodge is the sole Crimson player with more than 50.
• The Trojans have seven players with 25+ goals; Harvard has six.

STACKING UP

• Of the nine teams in the tournament, Harvard is second in overall wins, just behind USC's 27 victories.
• Harvard (.812) has the third-best winning percentage among all tournament teams, behind USC (.870) and Stanford (.956).
• Of the teams that release full statistics, Harvard is one of just two with three players recording 100+ points — a feat shared only with USC.
• Harvard's top five point producers — Ruby Hodge, Emma Gilbert, Maya O'Dea, Niki Piovan, and Heidi Heffelfinger — have combined for 297 goals and 493 points.
• Only one other tournament team has produced more among its top five scorers.
• UCLA has scored 346 goals in 24 games — Harvard's top five have netted 297 goals in 32 games.
• As a team, Harvard has scored 440 goals, second-most among all NCAA qualifiers.

RECORD-BREAKING SEASON

• Ruby Hodge broke the program record for most assists in a single season with her 57th assist. She now sits at a record 66 assists.
• Orli Cooper shattered the program record for most saves in a single season with 339, breaking the previous mark of 308.
• Emma Gilbert has scored 78 goals so far this season — just three shy of breaking the single-season record.

LOOKING BACK

• Harvard is 0–2 all-time against USC.
• This will be only the third meeting between the two programs since 1997.
• Harvard fell to the No. 2 Trojans earlier this season by a score of 17–10.
• Cooper made 11 saves in that game, while Piovan, Gilbert, and O'Dea combined for seven goals.

CARDIAC CRIMSON

• On the road to its first championship in program history, Harvard won back-to-back overtime games against No. 14 Michigan and No. 13 Princeton.
• Dany Zapata scored the overtime winner against Michigan, while Maya O'Dea netted the game-winner in the CWPA final.
• Entering the 2025 playoffs, Harvard had reached two of the previous three championship games but fell to Michigan and Princeton, respectively.

CONFERENCE CRIMSON

• The Crimson earned seven CWPA awards, as announced ahead of the conference playoffs.
• Niki Piovan was named CWPA Rookie of the Year, and Ted Minnis earned his third CWPA Coach of the Year award after leading Harvard to its first-ever regular season title.
• Piovan was a force on both ends, tallying 53 goals, 43 assists, and a team-high 41 steals. Her 96 points are the highest by a Crimson rookie since at least 2020.
• She joins Maya O'Dea as the only current Crimson players to earn CWPA Rookie of the Year honors.
• Minnis guided the Crimson to a 10–2 conference record and a 23–6 overall mark, including wins over No. 25 LIU, No. 19 Wagner, No. 15 UCSB, No. 13 Princeton, No. 11 UCSD, No. 16 Michigan, No. 23 CBU, and No. 22 Brown.
• In one of the best starts in program history, Minnis also secured his 250th career win in a 15–9 victory over Brown on March 8.
• Harvard rose as high as No. 7 in the national rankings — the highest in program history — and is now just one win away from tying the single-season win record (24–10) set in 2016.
• Emma Gilbert and Niki Piovan were named to the CWPA First Team, while Orli Cooper, Ruby Hodge, and Maya O'Dea earned Second Team honors.
• Gilbert, a dynamic scorer, led the team with 74 goals and added 22 assists. She earned one CWPA weekly honor and tied for second on the team in total points (96). She now sits just seven goals away from the program's single-season record.
• Cooper was stellar throughout her rookie campaign, earning five CWPA Defensive Player of the Week honors and breaking the single-season saves record.
• Ruby Hodge led the team in scoring with 37 goals and a program-record 66 assists, surpassing the previous record with her 57th just two weeks ago.
• Last year's CWPA Rookie of the Year, Maya O'Dea, earned a Second Team selection after scoring 45 goals and recording a career-high 20 assists.