The paths were different, but the results were the same.

The Harvard women’s water polo team closed its 2005 campaign with a fifth-place finish at the Eastern Championships, just as it had in 2004.

The fifth-seeded Crimson went 2-1 at Easterns, falling to fourth-seeded Hartwick before rebounding to take one-point victories over George Washington and then Brown in the fifth-place game. In 2004, Harvard came in seeded 10th and recorded a loss to the Hawks as well as a one-point win over the Colonials before topping Princeton for fifth.

“The competition in every game was much better this season, because last year everyone had at least one easier game,” junior two-meter Molly Mehaffey said.

The Crimson qualified for Easterns as a wildcard after failing to finish in the top two at the Northern Championships. Harvard lost games to the Hawks and the Bears en route to a third-place finish.

For the Crimson, it was the first season of Northern Division play. In past years, Harvard and Brown participated in the Northeastern Division, but the Northern and Northeastern leagues merged before the 2005 season.

The Crimson headed into the ECAC Championships—the tune-up for Northerns and Easterns—looking to improve upon a last-place finish in 2004. Third-seeded Harvard survived a scare from a lowly Wagner squad in the first round before falling to second-seeded and eventual champion Princeton 7-3 in the semifinal round.

The loss sent the Crimson to the consolation game to face Brown—the third of six meetings between the two schools on the season. Harvard topped Brown 7-5 for one of its four victories over the rivals from Providence on the season to take third in the tournament.

During its annual spring break trip to California, the Crimson played a four-game slate that included No. 20 Cal Baptist—one of three ranked teams on Harvard’s schedule. The Crimson defeated Division III Whittier 10-5 to kick off the trip and split its next two matches leading up to the showdown with the Lancers. The two teams battled to a scoreless tie at half, before Cal Baptist netted three third period goals. Harvard rallied for two scores in the fourth, but fell 3-2.

After finishing last season with a meteoric rise through Easterns, the Crimson capitalized on the momentum by jumping out to an 8-3 start this season. Harvard took three of its four contests at the Princeton Invitational, dropping its only game 8-4 to No. 18 Princeton. The Crimson returned home to Blodgett Pool to sweep Yale and Brown and claim the Ivy Invitational title.

“It’s always fun to play a team that’s capable of beating you,” Harvard coach Erik Farrar said after the game. “[The Bears] definitely are. We got the better of it today, and I hope that tradition continues. This is a big win. Beating Brown is always a big deal.”

The Bears returned to Cambridge two weeks later and handed Harvard a 6-4 defeat. Though the victory over Brown did not count in the division standings—the Ivy Invitational was a non-league match—the loss to Brown marked the league opener for the Crimson. Harvard rebounded to defeat the Bears in Providence later in the season, but Brown took the second-seed at Northerns over the Crimson due to a tie-breaker.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.