BROWN 16, HARVARD 11

The Crimson took an early lead in the first quarter against Ivy rival Brown, but it couldn’t hold on in the second half after the Bears jumped ahead.

It was Harvard’s third straight loss to Brown this season.

“We came out really strong, and even though we didn’t win, we played with them much better this time,” Martinho said.

Harvard was hard pressed to contain a powerful Bears offense, including four-time Northern Division Player of the Year Svetozar Stefanovic.

“[The Bears] are a very talented team, and they have one of the best players in water polo in Stefanovic,” Minnis said.

Despite losing two players to injury, the Crimson benefited from its strong freshman class, who scored all 11 of the team’s goals. Zepfel lead the team with five goals, and Harrison was close behind with four.

BUCKNELL 15, HARVARD 13

Bucknell came out firing against Harvard, racking up a 4-0 lead to start the game. But the Crimson pushed back, scoring four before the end of the period, while the Bison netted two more.

Harvard’s only lead of the night came at the end of the third quarter, when the team went up, 11-9. But Bucknell netted three straight to take a one-goal lead going in to the fourth quarter.

To open the fourth, Holland-McCowan scored his second goal of the night, tying up the score. Harvard held on to the tie for the rest of the period, but with under one minute remaining, the Bison scored two straight to cement their win and advance to the semifinal round for the first time since 2010.

“[Bucknell has] been doing a really good job with their zone defense, so we were trying to exploit some of the holes in that defense by hitting the gap and trying to get better shot selection,” Minnis said.

Harvard’s offense centered on Harrison, who scored a game-high five goals. The Crimson benefited from a balanced attack, with goals coming from seven different players.