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The No. 22 Harvard women’s water polo team jumpstarted its 2016 season by cruising to a two-match sweep at Blodgett Pool on opening day Saturday, beating Villanova 14-4 before downing Iona in similar fashion, 14-5.

The Crimson (2-0) spearheaded its performances with dominating defense. In goal, freshman Sam Acker and sophomore Cleo Harrington started for Harvard, combining for 17 stops across both games.

“Everything we talk about starts on the defensive end,” head coach Ted Minnis said. “Our defense is going to fuel our counter, which feeds our offense. We spent more time in the week talking about the defensive end than we’ve spent talking about any other phase of the game.”

With the two wins, the Crimson moved to 13-2 on opening days.

HARVARD 14, IONA 5

Iona (1-1) started its season off by eking out an upset win over Brown, but Harvard was able to shut its party down a match later. Freshman attacker Kristen Hong started the scoring early while senior attacker Yoshi Andersen followed with her first score of the year, and the Crimson rode a 9-2 halftime lead to a 14-5 victory over the Gaels in the afternoon game on Saturday.

“We wanted to come out really hard, to be aggressive and match their intensity,” Harrington said. “We just came out fired up.”

Harvard did just that, using a 5-goal first-quarter and shutdown defense to build an insurmountable lead early on. With the lead in hand, the Crimson’s pestering defense refused to allow the Gaels a clear shot.

“We wanted to press and make sure that we didn’t give them any easy passes,” Harrington said. “[Coach] Ted always says, ‘defense first, offense second, great games start with defense’—so I think we just had that mindset.”

Junior 2-meter Melissa Balding kept the team’s foot on the gas with three second-half goals, all blistering shots, one of which bounced off the right post but still found the back of the net. Balding was third on last year’s Harvard team with 50 goals.

On the younger side of the team, the freshman core of Hong and utilities Nikki Daurio and Colby Stapleton combined for five scores against Iona, a performance that has given the team high expectations for the years to come, even after the Crimson notched a team-best 20-13 record last year and graduated three seniors.

“We have some really good freshman, as you can see,” Harrington said. “Everyone’s super pumped about them, tons of amazing returning players. I’m really excited about this team.”

HARVARD 14, VILLANOVA 4

Harvard swept Villanova last season, blowing the Wildcats out both times the teams played, and Saturday followed the same trend. The Crimson opened its season with a morning 14-4 win over Villanova (1-1), using strong contributions from its freshman attacking group and a second-half shutout to continue its dominance over the Wildcats. Hong led the way with five goals, pacing a Harvard team that led 8-4 after two quarters.

“I think we had a little first-game jitters and excitement going on,” Minnis said, regarding the four first-half goals that the defense gave up. “But I think really it comes back to us playing together and working as a group out there, staying on the same page.”

Acker, as a freshman starting the season opener in goal, came out of the halftime break and shut out the Wildcats for the rest of the game.

Her fellow freshmen—Hong, Stapleton, and Daurio—did their part on the other end of the pool, combining for eight goals in the game. In her own right, Acker, turning the Crimson’s stifling defense into counterattacks the other way, also contributed in the second quarter with a beautiful distance outlet pass to senior attacker Charlotte Hendrix, who delivered for her first goal of the season.

“We talk a lot about—it doesn’t matter if everybody knows what we’re doing, as long as we’re on the same page, we’re going to be a tough team to beat,” Minnis said. “I think that that showed today, and that was a great way to start the season.”

Staff Writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bryan.hu@thecrimson.com