Throughout the game, Brown had been dropping off two Crimson players defensively but, late in the contest, Harvard suddenly found itself unable to convert the resulting open shots. That, coupled with some questionable calls by the officials and a boisterous home crowd, ultimately

snowballed into a 10-8 defeat for the Crimson.

Harvard 12, Iona 6

Sunday morning, after spending the night in Providence, Harvard drove to New Rochelle, New York, to face Iona in its shallow pool, which allows the players to jump off the bottom of the pool illegally. It was difficult for the Harvard players to know how often and when to use the depth of the pool to their benefit, but the home Gaels took full advantage.

“[The bottom of the pool] was a source of frustration for our two-meter game,” Garrigues said.

Nonetheless, despite an early Iona goal, the Crimson shot well and led 2-1 after the first quarter and 4-3 at halftime. Then, on the first play of

the second half, Harvard, with textbook execution, broke through the defense that both Brown and the Gaels employed as Masterson scored, giving the Crimson the emotional lift it needed to cruise to a dominating 12-6 victory.

This week, Harvard will get the opportunity to play against some of its chief rivals, as it travels to the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday in an attempt to avenge two narrow losses. The game will present an extra challenge for the Crimson, as it will be played in a small pool that will benefit the more physical Minutemen. Then, this weekend, Harvard hosts the ECAC Championships, giving it a chance to see some Southern Division teams in action. The real test for the Crimson, though, comes the next weekend with the Northern Division Championships at Brown, where the Crimson will need to place in the top four teams to qualify for Easterns. The team, however, isn’t worried.

“We fully expect to go to Easterns,” Garrigues said.