Dirty play, injuries and ejections don’t usually suggest the ingredients of a perfect weekend. But as the Harvard men’s water polo team concluded its regular season, the result was four big wins heading into postseason play.

The Crimson ran its winning streak to seven this weekend with four league wins at Connecticut College in New London, Conn. Harvard (14-4, 10-1 CWPA) beat two ranked teams—No. 15 St. Francis and No. 20 Iona—en route to its sweep of the meet.

Harvard hasn’t lost since an 11-3 setback to No. 13 UC-Santa Barbara and No. 5 USC on Oct. 6. The Crimson’s strong CWPA finish secured the No. 2 seed in the Northern Division playoffs in two weeks.

In winning all four games, the Crimson put together its most complete defensive performance of the season.

“Our defense took a big step in the right direction,” said co-captain Mike Masterson. “We were really clicking, and shut down most teams’ set offenses well. The defense is finally coming together.”

Harvard 8, Iona 6

Despite two late goals that made the final score deceiving, the Crimson easily defeated the No. 20 Gaels. Harvard jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead.

Co-captain Alex Fisher scored three goals, and five other players found the back of the net.

The late Iona rally came in the final 1:50 of regulation. The end of the game got even stranger when senior netminder Paul Tselentis—who blocked eight shots— was ejected with 11 seconds left in the game.

Still, by that point Harvard had the game well in hand.

“The score was a lot closer than the game was,” said senior driver Theo Ludwick. “The game was already over [when Iona scored the final two goals].”

Harvard 8, USMMA 4

Just after its thrilling and unusually violent win over St. Francis, the Crimson experienced a mild letdown against the less-regarded U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Fatigue from the exhausting victory contributed to a 3-3 tie.

But the Crimson caught its second wind in the second half, outscoring the USMMA 5-1 to pull away. Harvard shut the Marines out in the final frame to punctuate the win.

Masterson and fellow senior Istvan Zollei each scored two goals, and freshman backup Robbie Burmeister was solid in goal.