CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The quartet of Maya O’Dea (Fr., Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson), Ruby Hodge (So., San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic), Emma Gilbert (Fr., Santa Barbara, Calif./Doe Pueblos) and Hedi Heffelinger (So., Lafayette, Calif./Acalanes) each scored twice to account for two-thirds of No. 20-ranked Harvard University’s strikes and share Player of the Game status in a 12-9 dispatching of Saint Francis University at home in Blodgett Pool during the opening game of the 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship.
The Crimson (13-12, 5-5 CWPA) punch the program’s ticket into the tournament semifinals where Harvard will tangle with regular season runner-up/No. 13/12-time CWPA Champion (2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) the University of Michigan at Noon Eastern/9:00 a.m. Pacific on Saturday, April 27.
The 2022 and 2023 CWPA Championship runner-up, Harvard will need to fend off a Wolverines’ program which has vengeance on its mind. Last year, Crimson stunned the Maize & Blue by a 9-8 score at Princeton University to put Michigan into the Third Place game and earn Harvards second consecutive title tilt appearance – a 12-8 loss to Princeton University. In 2022 at Bucknell, Harvard came up short versus Michigan for the championship by a 10-4 count.
The Wolverines and Crimson have met once previously this year as Michigan claimed a 12-8 win at Princeton on March 3 in regular season competition.
Saint Francis (8-25, 1-9 CWPA) drops into a terminal Fifth Place game against the fallen from a first round game pitting No. 24 Brown University-vs.-Bucknell University as the Red Flash will saw the lights turned off on their 2024 campaign at 4:00 p.m. Eastern/1:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, April 27. In the history of the CWPA Championship, SFU has previously claimed Third (2021), Fourth (2023), Fifth (2022), Sixth (2019), Eighth (2017) and Ninth (2018) place as the team is guaranteed to pick-up its fifth Top Six finish regardless of the contest’s result.
The Crimson and Red Flash traded scoring blows throughout the majority of the first quarter as the teams were squared at two-all after eight minutes prior to Harvard beginning to pull away with a 4-2 scoring advantage in the second quarter to garner a 6-4 lead entering halftime.
Harvard struck first in the game as Hodge hooked in a man-up opportunity with 7:18 left in the first quarter for a quick 1-0 lead. The Red Flash burned the Crimson with a man-up marker from Caylah Olay (So., Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) with 5:03 on the clock prior to Sam Eschlemen (Fr., Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) firing in an even-strength salvo at 2:59 to put Saint Francis in front at 2-1.
The lead lasted until the 26 seconds marks of the first quarter when Dany Zapata (Jr., Cali, Colombia/Meriden School) lined home an equalizer to even the damage at two-all through eight minutes.
From there, the Crimson acquired a lead the team refused to relinquish for the remainder of the contest as Sasha Constandse (Sr. Irvine, Calif./Mater Dei) (7:32) and O’Dea (4:42) swished natural markers in the first three and a half minutes of the second quarter to stake Harvard to a 4-2 lead.
Emese Szucs (Sr., Budapest, Hungary) answered for the Red Flash with a man-up strike at 3:11 before Heffelfinger flipped in a power-play shot for Harvard at 2:18 to return the lead to a pair at 5-3 and draw a yellow card on SFU head coach Jay O’Neil.
Eschleman (1:53, man-up) and Gilbert (1:35) exchanged scores in the waning minutes of the second quarter as the teams went to their corners with the Crimson clutching a 6-4 lead.
Following over two minutes of scoreless back-and forth play between the teams to commence the third quarter, the Red Flash once more threatened as Szucs stuffed in a shot with 5:51 on the clock to inch Saint Francis back to within a one at 6-5.
However, Ella Schneider (So., San Clemente, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) (5:32), Lucy Berkman (Fr., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) (4:54) and O’Dea (2:31, man-up) registered back-to-back-to-back goals to inflate Harvard’s lead to 9-5.
Saint Francis began to chip away at its deficit in the final two minutes of the third quarter as Eschleman (2:07) and Szucs (1:28, man-up) delivered responses to inch the Red Flash within a pair at 9-7 heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
Harvard, however, put the game out of reach in the final frame’s first three minutes as Heffelfinger (7:43), Gilbert (6:58) and Hodge (5:02) combined for a 3-0 outburst to widen the gap between the squads to 12-7.
The Red Flash trimmed its concluding deficit down to five as Eschleman (3:29) and Szucs (1:00, penalty shot) swished scoring bids to move SFU within 12-9 before the terminal horn.
For Saint Francis, Szucs and Eschleman both scored four times with Olay chipping in a solo marker. Isabel Lumley (Jr., Brisbane, Australia/Brisbane Girls Grammar School) stopped 11 shots in cage.
O’Dea, Hodge, Gilbert and Heffelfinger were aided on the offensive end of the tank by Berkman, Zapata, Schneider and Constandse who contributed single goals for Harvard. Alex Kieckhafer (Sr., Coto De Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) stymied the Red Flash with two saves.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Saint Francis University |
2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | 9 |
| No. 20 Harvard University | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | 12 |
| Harvard Goals: | Maya O’Dea (2); Ruby Hodge (2); Emma Gilbert (2); Heidi Heffelfinger (2); Lucy Berkman; Dany Zapata; Sasha Contstandse; Ella Schneider | |||||
| SFU Goals: | Emese Szucs (4); Sam Eschleman (4); Caylah Olay | |||||
| Saves: | Harvard – Alex Kieckhafer (2) ; SFU – Isabel Lumley (11) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Harvard – 10 ; SFU – 9 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Harvard – 3-for-9 ; SFU – 5-for-10 | |||||
| Sprints: | Harvard – 4-for-4 ; SFU – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | YC – SFU (Head coach Jeremiah O’Neil, 2::18 left in 2nd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Joe Peila, Easton Honaker | |||||
Saint Francis University’s Emese Szucs (#11) attempts to get off a shot against Harvard University’s Alexis Kieckhafer (#1)
Harvard University’s Lucy Berkman (#11)
Saint Francis University’s Georgia Ellison (#10)
Harvard University’s Maya O’Dea (#9) shoots
