Facing one of the tournament’s strongest fields in years, the Harvard women’s water polo team came back from the Eastern Championships this weekend with a seventh-place finish, losing to Princeton and Indiana before closing out its season with a victory over George Washington.

As a result of the unusual strength of all the teams in the tournament, the east region stands a chance of gaining two of the four bids to the NCAA tournament, instead of the customary one.

Brown came away with one of those berths by virtue of winning the tournament championship. Watching the Bears celebrate could only have been agonizing to the Crimson, which had defeated Brown 6-5 in its first game of the season.

Harvard 11, Geo. Washington 8

Whatever adjustments Harvard made after dropping its two matches Saturday worked on Sunday, as the Crimson led the Colonials from start to finish.

Co-captain Natasha Magnuson and sophomore Jane Humphries matched George Washington’s scoring total by themselves by tallying four goals each.

Harvard also notched three other goals to take the 11-8 victory and claim seventh place in the tournament.

Indiana 14, Harvard 8

After a lackluster opening quarter, Indiana torched Harvard in the second period, scoring eight times.

While poor communication was partly to blame for Harvard’s mid-game breakdown, questionable officiating also contributed to the disaster. Co-captain Jesse Gunderson fouled out with much of the game left to play.

In her absence, sophomore Tiana Peterson and junior Christine Meiers each had some success driving into two meters. Meiers drew four kick-outs while Peterson scored her third, fourth, and fifth goals of the tournament.

Magnuson also added two goals, but it was not enough to save the Crimson from a 14-8 loss.

After the Indiana game, Harvard held a team meeting to discuss different defenses, eventually deciding to tweak its system so that someone dropped back on the hole-set more.

Princeton 11, Harvard 7

In Harvard’s first game of the weekend, the Tigers dominated the Crimson in the first quarter, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. Harvard was able to gain two of those goals back by halftime, but the Crimson still went into the locker room trailing 6-4.