“We thought that on a different day, we probably could have won and beat that team,” said sophomore goalie Laurel McCarthy, who recorded seven saves. “We were having bad luck with our shooting, but I think it’ll be exciting to play them again. I don’t think the score reflected how close the game was, which was a little disappointing.”
HARVARD 15, NO. 19 CAL STATE EAST BAY 9
Just as Tiger Woods will always remember the first hole-in-one he shot, most of the members of Harvard’s squad will always remember the first time they beat a ranked opponent.
“The East Bay game was definitely my favorite,” McCarthy said. “That was the first time since I’ve been on Harvard water polo that we beat a ranked opponent. It’s been a while.”
The Crimson jumped out to an early 3-1 lead before the Pioneers brought it to within one after the first eight minutes of play. Ahead 8-6 at the half and 10-9 at the end of the third quarter, the Harvard athletes could feel that they would need an extra kick in the last quarter.
Kennifer and Zdrojewski each completed a hat trick in the final quarter as the Crimson grabbed five tallies to East Bay’s two, sealing the victory.
Junior Patricia Smith, who started each game this week after freshman Elise Molnar suffered a concussion, tabbed her own hat trick as well, as Harvard ended the Pioneers’ five-game win streak.
“Patty Smith deserves a lot of credit,” McCarthy said. “We’ve had a lot of trouble starting out our first quarters, and she got in there, and two games in a row she scored the first two goals. She took control of the offense, and it was awesome.”
Freshman Aisha Price and sophomore Shannon Purcell each banked two in the net to help the Crimson, while McCarthy stopped four of East Bay’s shots.
“First with them being a ranked opponent, we were viewed as an underdog going into the game,” Zdrojewski said. “For us to be able to step up to that and be able to have control during the duration of the game was a great thing.”
—Staff writer Alex Sopko can be reached at sopko@fas.harvard.edu.