CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 18 men's water polo picked up two wins on Sunday to close the Bruno Classic after defeating both Gannon and Wagner.

In two hard-fought games, Harvard pulled away in the second half to give the Crimson three wins on the campaign before heading to Princeton next weekend.

With the pair of wins, the Crimson go 3-1 at the Bruno Classic for the second time in the last three seasons.

The Crimson got off to a hot start in the first game of the day after jumping out to a 5-1 lead. Harvard converted on four five-meter goals in the opening eight minutes, with Dean Strauser, Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan, and Jacob
Tsotadze finding the back of the net on the penalty shots. Gannon was able to bounce back in the second quarter and cut the Crimson lead from four goals to two after making it 6-4 with just under five minutes to play before the half.

The Crimson would go on to control the key remaining minutes of the first half, scoring another four goals to take a 10-5 lead into the break. Outscoring Gannon 5-1 in the dying minutes, Felix Pal scored the nicest goal of the run after outwaiting the netminder for the easy strike late in the quarter.

Harvard picked up where it left off coming out of the break after scoring another four goals to lead 14-7 with a quarter to play. Outscoring the Golden Knights 4-2 in the third quarter, the Crimson was able to pull away for its second win of the season.

In the final game of the weekend, Jack Burghardt and Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan helped the Crimson pull away after combining for seven of the 13 Crimson tallies. Harvard jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter before Wagner battled back to tie the game at six heading into halftime.

Goals from Sogaard-Srikrishnan and Tyler Hogan in the third quarter helped Harvard take a one-goal lead into the fourth. The Crimson pulled away in the fourth quarter for the third time in three games this weekend after outscoring the Seahawks 4-2 in the final eight minutes.

GAME 1: Harvard 16, Gannon 10

• Tyler Hogan scored twice and added an assist.
• Lukas Peabody and Connor Kim scored once.
• Dean Strauser added two goals.
• Jacob Tsotadze, Felix Pal, and Jack Burghardt all recorded hat-tricks.
• The three-goal game performance for Pal marks the first hat-trick for a rookie this season.
• Emil Sogaard-Srikrishnan added three helpers.
• Jack Burghardt drew seven knockouts.
• Both netminders split time again in the morning with Oliver Price making six stops and Tanner Furtak picking up seven stops.

GAME 2: Harvard 13, Wagner 9

• Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan scored three goals and added a helper.
• Jack Burghardt netted four goals.
• Dean Strauser added a goal and an assist.
• Tyler Hogan netted a pair of goals.

NEXT UP
Harvard travels to the Princeton Invitational next weekend to take on CBU and Navy on Saturday before a rematch with Bucknell on Sunday.