Junior Cassandra Forsyth earned a hat trick against Queens as part of a 26-goal outburst by the Crimson in its final matches before the Northern Division Championship next weekend. Classmate Melissa Mueller, playing on her birthday, added 10 goals and nin

After a tough loss to Brown last Thursday, the Harvard women’s water polo team needed the pair of victories that it picked up Saturday in New York against Queens and Utica to boost its morale.

That’s not all the wins were good for, though. In winning its last two games, the Crimson secured a No. 3 seed for itself in next weekend’s Northern Division Championship that will be played in New London, Conn.

“We can get them close, but the kids have to take it the last mile,” head coach Erik Farrar said. “Everything we have done this year has been preparing us for this coming weekend.”

HARVARD 13, UTICA 1

In its final game of the regular season, the Crimson put on a clinic against the Pioneers (0-19), winning easily, 13-1. Leading the way for Harvard were junior Melissa Mueller and freshman Kelly Peeler, who each put three shots in the back of the net.

“Mueller had an incredible set of games,” junior co-captain Lauren Snyder said. “She was really pumped up and really excited.”

The Crimson set itself up for success by applying a tight press on the Utica attackers. The pressure forced the Pioneers to make poor decisions and weak passes that led to turnovers and steals by the Harvard defenders.

Mueller set the pace for the Crimson defensively, recording five steals in the game.

“Last week we had been practicing really hard on doing a really solid press, and that really showed,” Snyder said.

The strong defensive effort gave Harvard a lot of opportunities to score in transition—and score the team did. In addition to the outbursts by Mueller and Peeler, the Crimson got two goals each from sophomore Devon MacLaughlin and junior Cassandra Forsyth. Snyder and freshmen Kristina Bergquist added the final two.

Sophomore Nicola Perlman had another solid outing guarding the goal, recording eight saves and adding three steals.

HARVARD 13, QUEENS 3

Harvard’s first contest of the day, against Queens College (3-9), was almost as one-sided as its later match against Utica. Led by Mueller, the Crimson coasted to the 13-3 victory by applying its press and taking advantage of its speed on offense.

Mueller, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, poured in a team-high four goals.

The rest of the scoring was split up among five of her teammates. Snyder and freshmen Kathryn Bilder tallied a pair of goals each, while Bergquist and MacLaughlin also notched scores.

“We are a bit further along than both of those teams,” Farrar said. “We were just deeper, faster—we were able to run them pretty effectively, and they just couldn’t catch us.”

Freshmen Ariel Delgado, who splits time in goal with Perlman, put up six saves in the winning effort.

”It is great to have some momentum going into any championship game,” Snyder said. “We are just really excited to play whoever we are paired with.”

—Staff writer Julia R. Senior can be reached at jrsenior@fas.harvard.edu.