SANTA CLARA/SAN JOSE, Calif. — The No. 9-ranked Harvard University men’s water polo team won both its matches on day two of the Julian Frasier Memorial Tournament to move to 21-0 on the season. As the only remaining undefeated team in the nation, the Crimson handed a loss to host Santa Clara University, 19-17, before continuing on to take down host No. 13 San Jose State University, 10-8, later in the day.
Leading the Crimson in scoring was junior Dennis Blyashov who tied a career-high with seven goals against Santa Clara. Blyashov went on to tally one more in the match against San Jose State to bring his total to eight on the day. Senior captain Charlie Owens and first-year Kaleb Archer found the back of the net four times over the two matches, each with a hat trick against Santa Clara and San Jose State, respectively. First-year goalie Nathan Wu finished the day with nineteen saves, including two blocked penalty shots against Santa Clara.
In the Crimson’s first match of the day at Santa Clara, sophomore Alex Tsotadze scored on a five-meter penalty shot to get Harvard on the board first. Santa Clara and Harvard traded scoring opportunities back and forth throughout the first quarter until three-straight goals put the Crimson up 6-3. Santa Clara mounted a comeback late in the second and into the third, scoring three-straight to tie the match up at 11-all. Blyashov found the back of the net twice towards the end of the third quarter to give the Crimson a 15-13 lead and Santa Clara was unable to tie the game up again, falling to Harvard by a 19-17 final score.
In a low scoring match between the Crimson and San Jose State, the two teams combined for only four goals in the first quarter, coming to a 2-2 tie at the end of the first eight minutes of play. Harvard outscored the Spartans in the second by two goals to take the 6-4 lead going into the half. The Crimson was held to only one goal in the third quarter, scored by Archer, however, the team outscored San Jose State again in the fourth to come away with the 10-8 victory.
Release courtesy Harvard University Athletics Communications
