CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — No. 19-ranked Harvard University men’s water polo extended its winning streak to six matches with a pair of wins against No. 17 the United States Naval Academy, 15-10, and the University of California-Merced, 20-4, on the first day of the Harvard Invitational.
In the opener against Navy at Blodgett Pool, senior Jack Burghardt, who was held scoreless in the first half, dominated the third quarter with four goals and finished the contest with six. Senior goalie Oliver Price, the reigning Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Defensive Player of the Week, backstopped the Crimson to the tune of 14 saves in the first game of the day.
The Midshipmen netted the first two goals of the game before senior Jacob Tsotadze got the Crimson on the scoreboard and first-year Clay Carrington tied the game on a penalty shot. Price kept the game tied through one with three late saves.
The two sides continued to play back-and-forth through the second quarter with Navy never trailing and taking a lead into halftime on a buzzer beater by Jack Reif to go in front 5-4.
The second half featured a similar pace to the first and the Midshipmen were able to retake a two-goal lead at 8-6. From there, the Crimson dominated the rest of the third quarter with four straight goals.
Burghardt, who scored four times in the third quarter, carried the momentum into the fourth quarter with his fifth goal and Tsotadze added his second to make it a 6-0 Crimson run and 14-8 lead for the home team.
Navy was unable to recover against Harvard as the home squad picked up a five-score victory.
Burghardt (six), Connor Kim (two) and Tsotadze (two) combined for 10 of Harvard’s 15 goals with Carrington, Bradford Dickson, Tyler Hogan, Emil Sogaard-Srikrishnan and Dean Strauser notching solo strikes to support 14 saves by Price.
The second game was easier as the Crimson Harvard cruised to a 20-4 win against UC-Merced,
Burghardt once against shined, scoring five goals. Carrington also tallied five goals and dished out a team-best four assists. Eight different Crimson found the back of the net against the Bobcats.
Harvard led wire-to-wire against UC-Merced as the home team tallied seven goals while holding the visitors off the board in the first quarter. Carrington scored three goals in the first frame to accompany a pair by Burghardt.
It was once again all Harvard in the second quarter, as the Crimson took an 11-1 lead into halftime. Four different Crimson got their names on the scoresheet, as Hogan and Lukas Peabody each scored their only goals of the day in the second quarter.
Harvard pushed its lead all the way to 17-3 in the third quarter, representing the largest difference of the day. Carrington ended his scoring run with two goals in the third quarter.
The Crimson would see out their 20-4 win against the Bobcats in the fourth quarter as Burghardt, Carrington and sophomore Felix Pal all recorded a team-high five goals in the victory.
