“We had a slow start, but once we starting scoring Brown had no chance because of our strong defense,” Voith said.
The Crimson offense continued the tenacious play in the fourth quarter. When Garcia took a shot that bounced off the right post, Voith was there to quickly grab the ball and net a goal.
Garcia scored three of the six Harvard goals, including the all-important first goal for the Crimson in the second quarter.
“Garcia’s whole game has really stepped up lately,” Burmeister said. “Tonight, though, his goals were just what we needed to play hard and take it to Brown.”
Harvard’s offense had been unable to penetrate the Bears’ defense at the beginning of the game, and didn’t score on its first power play. When the opportunity presented itself to the Crimson again in the second period, it took advantage and scored.
“That was the difference between us and Brown,” Offsay said. “We were doing the little things that make you play good water polo. They were playing like it was the WWE.”
For the first two periods, the defense was the story. The Crimson, anchored by Burmeister, held the Bears scoreless for the first 17.5 minutes of the game.
“Holding a solid team like Brown to two goals is rare,” Offsay said.
“We were very active on defense and never really gave them a good scoring opportunity,” Burmeister said.
The Harvard defense also successfully prevented Brown from driving close to the goal and getting off many shots by forcing the Bears to run the shot clock down and make hasty throws.
Burmeister only gave up one other goal to Brown in the final period of play when the Bears were on a power play after a penalty was called on Offsay. By this time, however, Harvard held a 5-2 lead.
“I’m really proud of the way we played tonight,” Burmeister said. “And I’m really happy for Erik to get a big win against a team he used to coach.”
Harvard’s next matches come against Iona and Fordham on Saturday when it travels to New London, Conn. The games are the last two regular season contests for the Crimson.
—Staff writer Megha Parekh can be reached at parekh@fas.harvard.edu.