The Harvard women’s water polo team posted a split decision this weekend, handily defeating Connecticut College before dropping a tight match against Brown.

The Crimson (2-7) held its own early on against the Bears (7-2) but ultimately was left in Brown’s wake during the fourth quarter as Harvard fell 10-7.

The Crimson took an early lead thanks to freshman Arin Keyser, who exploded out of the gate to give Harvard a two-goal advantage.

Keyser quickly gained possession of the ball twice, and rippled the mesh for a pair before Brown ever touched the ball.

From there, the game settled into a less-frantic pace, with neither team able to shake the other.

“After Brown caught up, it was back-and-forth,” said sophomore Teresa Codini. “No team pulled ahead or fell behind by very much.”

Although neither team was able to gain the upper-hand, the Bears had more one-swimmer advantages and therefore ultimately created more opportunities.

“If a team gets a kickout, it’s 20 seconds to work with an extra player,” Codini said. “It’s usually the greatest opportunity to score.”

This Ivy battle proved Codini right, as most of the scoring came with the man advantage.

For the Crimson, captain Tiana Peterson and sophomore Tina Codini each found the back of the net during kickouts, keeping Harvard in the game.

After Theresa Codini snuck a shot past the Brown keeper, the score was level at six headed into the final period.

In the final frame of play, the Crimson had as much difficulty keeping swimmers in the game as remaining even with the Bears.

Multiple kickout opportunities for Brown ultimately proved too much for Harvard to handle, as the Bears scored four times to pull ahead for good.

“I thought we had some bad calls,” Teresa Codini said. “They scored their goals off six-on-fives.”

Harvard 12, Conn. College 3