CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 19 Harvard men's water polo extends its winning streak to six matches with a pair of wins against No. 17 Navy and UC Merced on the first day of the Harvard Invitational.
In the opener against Navy, senior
Jack Burghardt, who was held scoreless in the first half, dominated the third quarter with four goals and finished the contest with six. Senior goalie
Oliver Price, the reigning NWPC Defensive Player of the Week, backstopped the Crimson to the tune of 14 saves in the first game of the day.
Harvard cruised to a 20-4 win against UC Merced, Burghardt once against shined, scoring five goals. First-year
Clay Carrington also tallied five goals and dished out a team-best four assists. Eight different Crimson found the back of the net against Bobcats.
Harvard 15, Navy 10
Highlights |
Photos
· The Midshipmen netted the first two goals of the game before senior
Jacob Tsotadze got the Crimson on the scoreboard and first-year
Clay Carrington tied the game on a penalty shot.
· Price kept the game tied through one with three late saves.
· The two sides continued to play back-and-forth through the second with Navy never trailing and taking a lead into halftime on a buzzer beater by Jack Reif to go in front 5-4.
· The second half featured a similar pace to the first and the Midshipmen were able to retake a two-goal lead at 8-6. From there, the Crimson dominated the rest of the third with four straight goals.
· Burghardt, who scored four times in the third, carried the momentum into the fourth with his fifth goal and Tsotadze added his second to make it a 6-0 Crimson run and 14-8 lead for the home team.
Goals: Burghardt 6,
Connor Kim (2), Tsotadze (2),
Clay Carrington (1),
Bradford Dickson (1),
Tyler Hogan (1),
Emil Sogaard-Srikrishnan (1),
Dean Strauser (1)
Saves: Price (14).
Harvard 20, UC Merced 4
Highlights
- Harvard led wire-to-wire against the Bobcats, as Harvard tallied seven goals while holding the visitors off the board in the first quarter.
- Carrington scored three goals in the first frame, Burghardt netted a pair.
- It was once again all Harvard in the second quarter, as the Crimson took an 11-1 lead into halftime. Four different Crimson got their names on the scoresheet, as juniors Tyler Hogan and Lukas Peabody each scored their only goals of the day in the second.
- Harvard pushed its lead all the way to 17-3 in the third quarter, representing the largest lead of the day. Carrington ended his scoring run with two goals in the third.
- The Crimson would see out its 20-4 win against the Bobcats in the fourth quarter, as Burghardt, Carrington and sophomore Felix Pal all recorded a team-high five goals in the victory.
Up Next
Harvard faces Pomona-Pitzer in its Harvard Invitational finale at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
