Second-year player Devan Kennifer did not endure a sophomore slump for Harvard women’s water polo in 2010. Instead, the rising co-captain tallied a team-leading 67 goals, netting at least a hat trick in her first five contests. Kennifer’s performance earned her All-Northern Division first-team honors.

You can usually expect it to take some time for a team full of young talent to get its footing, but in the case of Harvard women’s water polo, it took almost no time at all to prove its prowess in the pool.

The Crimson, despite dominating opponents at the top of its schedule, posted a 12-15 overall record and went 1-3 in division play.

“Ultimately, we didn’t finish as strongly as we hoped,” sophomore goalkeeper Laurel McCarthy said. “But we definitely accomplished some of the things we set out for at the beginning of the year.”

Opening the season at home at the Harvard Invitational, the Crimson went undefeated in the weekend’s four games. The biggest victory came first with a 16-2 decision over Villanova.

In the game, sophomore, rising co-captain, and team scoring leader Devan Kennifer recorded her first hat trick of the year, while nine more teammates tallied scores of their own.

Kennifer, who was named to the All-Northern Division First Team, followed up her impressive freshman year with an equally noteworthy performance early in her second season, scoring no less than three goals in the first five games.

Harvard went on to continue the winning trend as it traveled to New Jersey for the Princeton Invitational, where it racked up victories in another three of four games.

As the team’s veterans stepped up to contribute, so too did some of the Crimson’s newest additions.

Freshmen Elise Molnar and Aisha Price emerged as powerful players on Harvard’s offense.

“We’re a very young team, which makes us really optimistic about the future,” McCarthy said.

After nearly reaching double-digit scoring at the Harvard Invitational, Molnar was named the CWPA Northern Division Rookie of the Week.

Price, the Crimson’s Rookie of the Year and a member of the varsity soccer team, recorded some big goals, along with sophomore teammate Ita Barton-Kettleborough, as the team moved on to the ECAC Championships and the Elite Eight tournament—but the team began to falter.

Although Harvard beat Bucknell in a close overtime match at the Elite Eight just a week after the Bison had beaten them for fifth place at the ECAC Championships, it dropped to a 9-5 record.

As the Crimson headed across the country for spring break, it was challenged on defense as it went up against ranked opponents, including Cal State East Bay and Pacific.

McCarthy was kept busy in goal during the West Coast road trip and earned CWPA Northern Division Defensive Player of the Week honors as Harvard picked up three more wins and losses.