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No. 19 Harvard men’s water polo (13-6, 5-0 NWPC) swept its three opponents this weekend at the Harvard Invitational, extending its win streak to eight following five straight conference wins.

The Crimson ended a four-game stint at home following last week’s victory against MIT, returning for its first Blodgett Pool matchup since August 31. Harvard heads to Santa Clara, California, to face three top-20 ranked opponents at the Julian Frazier Memorial Tournament next weekend before returning to conference play.

Harvard conceded its fewest goals in a game this season so far, allowing Salem to score only seven goals on Saturday evening.

“We got the wins. So that’s first and foremost,” Head Coach Ted Minnis said. “I thought we played pretty well defensively, and that's what we really been focused on — our defense. I still think we need to do a better job consistently and not giving up as many goals in four quarters.”

“That’ll be a focus leading into California this week. But overall, I was happy with the mentality that we brought to each and every game,” he added.

Harvard 16, Wagner 13

In the tournament’s first game, Harvard defeated Wagner for the second time this season, after winning 13-9 against the Seahawks in an August matchup.

Junior utility Jack Burghardt scored half of the Crimson’s goals, four of which came in the first quarter. The Crimson dominated possession throughout the second half, securing second-chance opportunities from rebounded shots and taking advantage of Wagner’s transition turnovers.

Burghardt wrestled his way twice in the first minutes and found space for two goals. In response, Wagner senior attacker Laszlo Strasser and freshman center Landon Castillo converted spinning outside shots.

The tie lasted for approximately for a minute until Harvard embarked on a four-goal run. Wagner struggled to contain Burghardt in the middle, as their closed down attempts failed to prevent Harvard’s entry passes to their leading goalscorer. Burghardt scored his third and fourth of the quarter, and attackers sophomore Dean Strauser and junior Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan scored their first.

Shots attempts missed wide and unconverted passes plagued the Seahawk’s first quarter, but freshman defender Nadav Carmon found an angle for a skip shot, closing the quarter at 6-3.

The teams exchanged goals, and Harvard dominated possession time through several second-chance opportunities, leading to promising attacks. Although saves by Seahawks’ sophomore goalie Ian Conway rewarded them with a 2-0 run, Strauser responded with a goal.

Wagner, entering defensive troubles, conceded two penalties to Strauser and sophomore attacker Lukas Peabody as well as Burghardt’s one-on-one drive for Harvard’s 10-5 lead.

Defensively, senior goalie Tanner Furtak deflected several shots for the Crimson.

The Seahawks started off the third quarter aggressively, sending a cross-pool pass and converting a penalty for their first two goals. Exchanging another two goals with Harvard’s Peabody and senior attacker Mason Hunt, the Seahawks went on to outscore the Crimson 5-2 in the third quarter.

“I think our third quarter wasn’t great. I mean, we lost that quarter 5-2. I thought we had some lapses defensively,” Minnis said. “And again, we-re trying to focus on the defensive side of the ball, and to have a lapse that is a 5-2 quarter is not good.”

“And so the focus was, moving forward, not having those lapses in the quarter. I thought we did pretty well. I think we only lost one other quarter the rest of the weekend and tied one and tied one. So, I thought we learned from that,” Minnis added.

Both sides struggled with hitting the cage, as the Seahawks fortressed in front of the goal. Harvard held off several power plays before the Seahawks capitalized and closed the quarter’s score to 12-10.

Burghardt received an over the top pass and fought for space to find his sixth goal at the start of the fourth. As the quarter progressed, Harvard continued its streak of generating second-change opportunities, circling possession and utilizing time to their advantage despite missing their shots.

Although the Seahawks scored three in the fourth quarter, their three successive transition turnovers opened the door to Harvard — Strauser scored a penalty, junior goalie Oliver Price saved a penalty, and Burghardt scored two more, including a dagger to end the game.

Harvard 22, Salem 7

Harvard conceded a season-low of seven goals against Salem and scored more than 20 goals for only the third time this season. 10 different players scored, leading Harvard to triple Salem’s score and win 22-7, including 11 goals split between Burghardt, Sogaard-Srikrishnan, and freshman attacker Felix Pal.

The Crimson pulled away with the victory beginning with their defensive pressure in the second quarter, where seven players contributed to holding the Tigers scoreless through a 10-0 run. Price and Furtak combined for nine saves in Harvard’s net, while freshman attacker Connor Kim held Harvard’s defense with blocks and steals to close the game.

““I have not been worried about our offense. We can score. I don't think we've been held to single digits all year,” Minnis said.

A 3-0 lead in the first three minutes carried Harvard’s momentum throughout the first, before the Tigers responded with two goals. Junior attacker Jacob Tsotadze assisted freshman Emil Sogaard-Srikrishnan’s carefully-timed slipped shot. Soon after, Tsotadze assisted the other brother, Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan, for a powerful shot that stuck to the net.

While Harvard maintained a firm defense, the resulting exclusions and penalties eventually proved costly, with Salem converting a penalty to close the game to 5-3.

Harvard maintained a high press, immediately paying off in the second quarter — Strauser’s pass interception turned into his own scoring opportunity. The Crimson’s time on the perimeter dragged Salem’s defenders and generated openings.

Salem struggled to locate the same defensive vulnerabilities in Harvard’s defense, and, despite the Tigers leaving a player roaming in their offensive half, Price held steady with his saves.

“They want to run a defense to where they forced you into taking a shot, and now they can go the other way if you miss and have a two on one or one on nobody, going the other way,” Minnis said. “And so we talked about being patient and making sure we covered that person so that we could take a shot and if we missed, we weren't going to get beat going the other way.”

Highlights to the Crimson’s 10-0 run included Hunt’s two defensive steals and seven different goal scorers racking up the tally through both slowly-built possessions and rapid counterattacks, outnumbering Salem’s defense.

Burghardt opened up the third quarter’s scoring run, but Harvard’s defense, pushed too far up for the counterattack, conceded Salem’s breakthrough goal for a score of 14-4.

Harvard’s offense slowed down throughout the quarter due to missed shots, but several high-lofted passing combinations resulted in Kim and Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan finding the net. Kim and Emil Sogaard-Srikrishnan recorded assists.

The Crimson ended the quarter on a 4-0 run, ahead by 14 goals.

Price’s turn to split the goalkeeper duties came in the second half, where he recorded several saves. Salem diffused several attempts at entry passes and found a breakthrough through a whipped backwards goal.

Harvard and Salem exchanged two goals each, thanks to Harvard’s repeated turnovers. The Crimson’s return to dominant possession took more time, and Kim recorded a block, steal and soaring assist to Hunt for Harvard’s final goal, ending the game at 22-8.

Harvard 16, No. 20 George Washington 14

A defensive showdown ensued between Harvard and its only nationally ranked opponent this weekend, where the biggest lead of the game was four goals. After a back-and-forth first half, the Crimson slowly inched ahead in the third quarter, eventually winning 16-14.

Furtak and Revolutionaries’ goalie Vasilije Marinkovic anchored their defenses, recording eight and 13 saves, respectively.

Hunt led the Crimson’s scoring with four goals, followed by three goals each for Burghardt and Strauser.

Burghardt and Hunt opened scoring on fastbreaks a minute into the first quarter, starting the Crimson with a 2-0 lead. Marinkovic’s saves began to slow Harvard down, with the Crimson able to rotate possession but unable to convert the scoring opportunities due to interceptions and blocks from George Washington’s defense.

A conceded penalty and costly turnover deep in Harvard’s offensive half allowed the Revolutionaries to glide toward a 2-2 tie.

Marinkovic recorded three back-to-back saves, forcing Harvard to miss its attempted skip shots, but Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan and the Revoluntariones exchanged a goal to end the quarter.

The teams scored twice back-to-back in their two possessions, until their respective goalies stepped up for saves against go-ahead opportunities. The tie continued at 6-6, until Tsodatze scored from a side angle for Harvard’s 8-6 lead entering the third quarter.

George Washington finally broke through from a long passing, closing the lead to one. After a period of consecutive turnovers, Burghardt once again found space to whip a shot past the defense’s swarm.

With the Revolutionaries finding space through Harvard’s defense and the Crimson focusing on entry passes, six goals were equally divided between the team, maintaining a two point gap in favor of Harvard at 12-10.

Peabody scored a tap-in from Kim’s assist, and Kim’s interception allowed Vilas Sogaard-Srikrishnan’s outside shot to extend Harvard’s lead to four, the largest lead of the game.

“I thought we did a good job of playing defensively. And, I mean, I think they started to make a little run when we did a good job of staying focused on getting stops and not letting them score in bunches,” Minnis said. “We talked before the game that they like to score in bunches, and that when they started to get on a run that we really had to lock in defensively to get that stop.”

The Revolutionaries revolted, scoring two, until Harvard’s persistently ball movement found Peabody’s post goal.

Transitioning into the final minutes, amidst a scoring drought, Harvard slowed down its offense, focused on perimeter on rotation and benefited from Furtak’s saves. The Revolutionaries pushed forward their offensive pressure, allowing them to find a wing pass for a two-goal deficit.

Ending the game, Strauser advanced past a pushed-up George Washington team, outnumbering Marinkovic in an one-on-one position. Strauser scored, and the Revolutionaries did too with four seconds remaining, finishing the game at 16-14 for Harvard.

Harvard faces off against No. 14 University of the Pacific, No. 8 Pepperdine University, the Air Force Academy, and No. 17 Santa Clara University, in California this weekend.

“We’re process oriented. And I think going into California, we play four very good teams.

Hopefully we can learn some lessons and put ourselves in some situations where we’re going to have to make some adjustments and really focus on some communication that helps us when it really matters when we come back for the second round of conference,” Minnis said.

“ That’s what's really matters — setting ourselves up nice for the tournament, with a good seat, and then go out and get a good little push there to win the conference championship.”