BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Zoe Banks (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) of No. 19-ranked Harvard University registered 40 saves with 34 goals against for a .541 save percentage and a pair of steals during a 3-1 league weekend for the Crimson at home in Blodgett Pool to record honors as the April 11 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division I Defensive Player of the Week.
A six-time Defensive Player of the Week selection with honors during the 2022 (April 4, February 28, March 14, April 4), 2020 (March 9) and 2019 (February 11) seasons, Banks factored in all four games as the Crimson stayed alive for the No. 2 seed at the upcoming CWPA Championship on Friday-Sunday, April 22-24, in Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
On Saturday, April 9, she stopped 11 shots and permitted 11 goals with a steal as the Crimson outlasted No. 20 Princeton University in sudden death overtime, 12-11.
The win – combined with a 10-8 win at Princeton on April 2 – completes a regular season sweep by Harvard versus Princeton. The Crimson, who previously dropped 29 straight to the Black & Orange, has now claimed two wins over Princeton in the same season for the first time since 1994 when the Crimson picked up 10-8 and 7-4 victories.
She concluded the opening day of competition in Cambridge by turning aside 10-of-15 shots in a 7-5 defeat of Bucknell.
The victory completed another season sweep as Harvard downed Bucknell twice in a season for the first time since 2015 when the Crimson garnered a 12-5 regular season victory in Lewisburg, Pa., prior to notching a 14-7 win during the CWPA Championship tournament hosted by Bucknell.
Banks continued to dominate over the remainder of the weekend by making 10 saves with a steal and three goals allowed during an 18-8 defeat of Saint Francis University on Sunday, April 10.
Facing five-time defending CWPA Champion/No. 7 the University of Michigan in the concluding game of the four-contest homestand, she held her own with nine saves in a 15-9 loss to the Wolverines.
April 11 Collegiate Water Polo Association Division I Defensive Player of the Week Honor Roll: Alex Brown (University of Michigan)
