Dukes’ performances were especially impressive given that the Crimson was playing in a shallow-deep pool, where half of the court is in traditional deep water and the other half is in shallow water, three to four feet in depth.

“[Dukes] definitely deserves a shoutout for her performance, especially given the circumstances,” Price said. “Every other quarter, she literally had to stand on the bottom of the pool, but she played so well in the deep and shallow ends.”

To match Dukes’ efforts, Aisha Price rounded out Andersen’s offensive performance, with five goals and two assists, while Hendrix and Shayna Price chipped in three goals collectively.

HARVARD 11, MERCYHURST 3

Harvard set the winning tone of the weekend in its first match against Mercyhurst, dominating the Lakers, 11-3. From the first whistle to the final buzzer, the Crimson had control of the game, netting four goals in the first and second quarters to enter halftime with an eight-point lead.

The Harvard defense, which proved to be an integral aspect of the weekend, only allowed three Lakers goals to reach the back of the net and garnered a season-high 21 steals in the match, with six from Hendrix and four from Aisha Price. Price and Molnar also recorded hat tricks on the offensive end, netting three goals apiece, while Shayna Price offered up two.

“One thing that we’ve talked about all [year] is that the season is a stair case, we have to take it one step, one game at a time,” Minnis said. “We want to play the best water polo at the end of the season, so we can’t get too excited or complacent now…but we learned a lot about ourselves this weekend.”

—Staff writer B. Marjorie Gullick can be reached at gullick@college.harvard.edu.