ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 10 women's water polo won its second straight CWPA Championship, defeating its biggest rival, the Princeton Tigers, 8–7 in a sudden-victory thriller.
Ella Schneider scored the biggest goal of the season – and perhaps in program history – beating the Tigers' netminder in the fourth period of sudden victory to send Harvard to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament. Harvard has now won four straight overtime games in the CWPA playoffs.
It marks the first time in program history that the Crimson has won consecutive conference titles, and the first time it will appear in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.
Orli Cooper was named Tournament MVP after the sophomore goaltender made 18 saves to backstop the Crimson to the 2026 title. Twelve of her 18 saves came in the fourth quarter or later.
Ted Minnis was named Coach of the Tournament for the second consecutive season. The All-Tournament Team will be announced by the CWPA tomorrow.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Heidi Heffelfinger opened the scoring, going bar down for her fifth goal of the tournament to get the Crimson off and running. Princeton quickly responded with three goals to take a two-goal lead heading into the second quarter.
Maya O'Dea brought the Crimson back within one, beating the Tigers' keeper short side for Harvard's second straight goal. Heffelfinger tied the game at three after being left open on the right side of the cage, making it 3–3 with 5:36 left in the second quarter.
Niki Piovan gave Harvard a 4–3 lead shortly after Heffelfinger's goal, marking the Crimson's first lead since it was 1–0.
With the game tied at five apiece, first-year Petra Klemm outmuscled her defenders and lobbed the ball over the netminder for another big Crimson goal.
Maya O'Dea made it 7–6 after converting a five-meter attempt for her second goal of the day.
Orli Cooper was the story down the stretch, making numerous key saves for the Crimson—none bigger than a five-meter save with 26 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The first two overtime periods solved nothing, sending the Crimson and Tigers to sudden victory. Cooper remained stellar in the do-or-die moments, and Princeton hit the crossbar on an exclusion in the fourth sudden-victory period. With the ball behind her, the sophomore keeper barely kept it out before corralling it and sending Harvard the other way.
Ella Schneider walked in and beat the netminder on a skip shot for the first goal in over 17 minutes of action.
HARVARD HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT UP
The Crimson will now look ahead to the NCAA Tournament, with the selection show scheduled for tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.
