UMass-Amherst 7, Harvard 5
In the last game on Saturday night and quite possibly the last women’s water polo game ever between the two schools, the Minutewomen prevailed to earn a spot in the fifth-place game against Brown.
With financial concerns forcing the UMass athletic department to cut women’s water polo next year, the Minutewomen played with a sense of urgency all weekend and nearly upset Hartwick in the first game of the tournament before falling in overtime, 6-5.
Floerchinger said that carried over to their game against the Crimson.
“They had something extra going for them,” he said of UMass. “They definitely had some emotion on their side.”
Peterson agreed.
“After that game, we had to hand it to them,” she said. “They played with a ton of spirit and heart. After their last game, they were all tears and hugs. We really felt for them because no one would want that to happen to their program.”
Harvard and UMass had met in three very close games earlier in the season, with the Crimson taking two.
“We were disappointed to lose to UMass because we had beaten them before, but they played their best water polo of the year,” Floerchinger said. “We are two closely-matched teams, and this time they just had more points at the end of the game. We had the intensity, but we had to score more than we did.”
Meiers notched a hat trick and Cristina Codini continued her strong play with two goals.
UMass went on to defeat the Bears, 6-5, yesterday
Harvard 6, Bucknell 4
The Crimson rebounded from a loss in its first game of the tournament with a win over the tenth-seeded Bison.
Peterson, an ECAC All-Tournament selection, and Teresa Codini each scored twice for Harvard, while Humphries tallied her second goal of the weekend.
Cristina Codini continued her scoring streak with a goal.
Princeton 9, Harvard 6
The Codini twins—who shared the team scoring lead on the weekend with seven tallies apiece—catalyzed the Harvard offense once again, as each scored twice. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome the host Tigers (23-11) on Friday.
A hat trick from Adele McCarthy-Beauvais and two goals each from senior Cassandra Nichols and junior Jennifer Edwards gave Princeton its second win over Harvard this season.
The Tigers, who finished their season with an 11-10 loss to Indiana in the third-place game, also defeated the Crimson at the Brown Invitational on March 2 by a 14-7 score.
Humphries and freshman Stephanie Frias rounded out the scoring for Harvard with one goal apiece.