CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — 10 Crimson of No. 11-ranked Harvard University scored as the home team dispatched Connecticut College, 18-1, for the program’s 18th consecutive victory on the first day of the 2023 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship hosted at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool.
The Crimson (24-3, 9-1 NWPC) – who last lost on September 30 via a 17-11 setback to No. 6 Princeton University in New Jesey – outscored the Camels (2-20 0-1 NWPC) by 6-0 counts in the first and second quarters to acquire a 12-0 lead by halftime prior to holding 2-1 and 4-0 marks in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, as Harvard handled Connecticut.
Thanks to the win, the home team advances into the tournament semifinals as the Crimson will face the victor of the third and final first round game matching No. 20 Brown University and Long Island University. Harvard posted a combined 4-0 mark against its two potential opponents with prior meetings against the Bears (17-13 W on October 8 at Brown; 14-13 W on November 4 at home) and Sharks (16-6 W on October 1 at Long Island; 23-7 W on October 28 at home).
For Connecticut, the defeat drops the Camels into the consolation side of the seven-team championship bracket. Action continues for Connecticut at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 18, against Division III No. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – which fell by a 13-12 score to Iona University in sudden death overtime earlier in the day. The Camels season draws to a close tomorrow as the squad will also face the fallen from the Brown-LIU game as Connecticut, MIT and Brown/LIU will play a round-robin to determine places No. 5-to-7 in the final championship standings.
Connecticut went 0-4 against their potential opponents as the team faced MIT (19-6 L on September 16 at home), Long Island (13-7 L on October 27 at Long Island; 14-11 L on November 12 at home) and Brown (16-5 L on November 11 at Brown) during the regular season.
For Harvard, James Rozolis-Hill (So., Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach) and Cam Dougherty (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) both notched hat-tricks. Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan (Fr., Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick School), Kaleb Archer (Sr., Clovis, Calif./Buchanan), Mason Hunt (So., Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) and Rishi Mohan (Jr., Dallas, Texas/St. Mark’s School of Texas) tossed in pairs with Alex James (Jr., Burlington, Ontario/Assumption Catholic Secondary School), Jacob Tsotadze (Fr., Menlo Park, Calif./Sacred Heart Preparatory), Gabe Putnam (Sr., Clovis, Calif./Buchanan) and Bradford Dickson (Fr., Imperial Beach, Calif./Mar Vista) tacking on solo markers.
Tanner Furtak (So,, San Diego, Calif./Patrick Henry) earned the win in cage for Harvard with 15 saves.
Connecticut received a penalty goal by Jesse Ellis (Fr., Fresno, Calif./Sanger) with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter for the Camels’ lone score. Sebastian Parilov (So., Brooklyn, N.Y./Millenium Brooklyn) and Isaac Merwin (So., Houston, Texas/Lamar) combined for eight saves.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Connecticut College |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 |
| No. 11 Harvard University | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | – | 18 |
| Harvard Goals: | James Rozolis-Hill (3); Cam Dougherty (3); Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan (2); Kaleb Archer (2); Mason Hunt (2); Rishi Mohan (2); Alex James; Jacob Tsotadze; Gabe Putnam; Bradford Dickson | |||||
| Connecticut Goals: | Jesse Ellis | |||||
| Saves: | Harvard – Tanner Furtak (15) ; Connecticut – Sebastian Parilov (6, 24 minutes), Isaac Merwin (2, 8 minutes) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Harvard – 5 ; Connecticut – 4 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Harvard – 4-for-4 ; Connecticut – 1-for-5 | |||||
| Sprints: | Harvard – 4-for-4 ; Connecticut – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | Harvard – None ; Connecticut – YC (Head coach Matt Anderson, 4:12 left in 2nd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Jim Lewis, Val Vasilchikov | |||||
Connecticut College’s Siaki Nelson (#10) closes to defend Harvard University’s Cam Dougherty (#11)
Harvard University’s Mason Hunt (#5) rises to score against Connecticut College’s Sebastian Parilov (#1A)
Connecticut College’s Jesse Ellis (#14) checks Harvard University’s Tyler Zarcu (#2)
