"Especially for the freshman and sophomores, [the tournament] showed what the team had to do to step it up," McElroy said.
Signs of Harvard's hopeful ascension into the water polo elite is not limited to the placement in the tournament. East coast prep schools are beginning to have women's water polo teams; Moger and fellow freshman Una Kim are some of the first graduates of these squdas.
Western teams have always had the luxury of having a team made up solely of high school veterans, and Harvard may someday be in that class too.
"The levels of experience really showed," McElroy said. "They've all been playing six to eight years, whereas a lot of people on our team have only been playing for three to four."
No, Rome was not built in a day. And no, the Harvard women's water polo team did not win in its first time at Nationals.
But the capital of Italy eventually did rise up off the banks of the Tiber. For the Crimson, only the future can tell.