By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor
BROOKLYN, NY. To the uninitiated, water polo might appear almost incomprehensible. Featuring a cacophony of shrill whistles, furious action—including non-stop, gravity-defying plays—and almost oppressive physical conditions, by degrees polo is one of the most difficult as well as inscrutable of athletic endeavors.
But sports fans are inevitably drawn to emotional drama like a moth to flame. Put an explosive activity like polo into the underground environs of the St. Francis Brooklyn pool, mix in two of the East’s fiercest rivals and you have a combustible situation—which is what transpired Saturday night when #7 Harvard faced the host Terriers in a Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) match-up.
Both teams are legitimate contenders for the top of their conference, but it was the Crimson—back-to-back NCAA tournament participants and sporting the mantle of the East’s top ranked team—who came into the match with the higher profile. The Terriers, who on Wednesday had ended a season-opening eight-match winless drought, had hopes to stretch a modest winning streak to three.
Harvard’s Ted Minnis. Photograph Courtesy: Stu Rosner
Harvard Head Coach Ted Minnis, knows just how hard it is to win in the Pope Center Pool. He last achieved the feat in 2013, the only time in 13 attempts that the Crimson had ever beaten the Terriers at home. Minnis, now in his ninth year in Cambridge, acknowledged how difficult it will be to win the East again.
“You don’t get an opportunity to go to NCAA unless you win conference—and we’re strong top-to-bottom,” he said prior to the match.
St. Francis junior Will Lapkin—who, in addition to his NWPC experiences is a veteran of great California Intercollegiate Federation (CIF) battles as a graduate of Mater Dei High School—spoke about how his pool’s acoustics represent a considerable home field advantage in the rough and tumble world of Eastern polo.
“The noise here, it’s something different.” Lapkin said after the match. “You literally can’t hear anything. It’s a whole different mentality—and you’ve got to know how to deal with it.”
Despite a deafening din, antagonistic fans and constant battles with both Terriers and referees alike, Minnis and his players again know how it feels to win in Brooklyn. In a gripping battle that included fights, ejections, stellar goaltending and a furious finish by the home team that fell just short, Harvard (11-3; NWPC 4-0) escaped from Brooklyn with a 15-14 win, pushing their MWPC record on the young season to 3-0 and cementing their status as the East’s best.
St. Francis Brooklyn’s Djorde Stanic Photo Courtesy: Joseph Gomez
Winning in perhaps the region’s most hostile environment—from 2002 to 2013 St. Francis didn’t lose at home in 31 straight contests until the Crimson ended that streak with a 14-11 win—Minnis and his players remained (mostly) calm and collected. They trailed only once all game, when Terrier freshman Djorde Stanic flicked a nifty side-arm shot past Harvard goalie Noah Hodge to give the hosts a short-lived 2-1 lead. A 3-3 tie after one period ballooned into a 7-4 Crimson lead at halftime, as goals from freshman Alex Tsotadze, senior Grant Harvey, junior Austin Sechrest and sophomore Jackson Enright offset a score by Lapkin, dampening the enthusiasm of the Terrier faithful.
It was after intermission that the excitement really began. St. Francis senior Botond Kadar fired up the crowd with a goal a minute into the third period. A minute later Lapkin cut the deficit to one, but sophomore Dennis Blyashov restored Harvard’s two-goal advantage. Kadar then delivered goals on back-to-back possessions to tie the match at 8 before junior Charlie Owens again put the Crimson ahead. Bogdan Kostic, the Terriers’ senior captain, tied it at 9-all, and with St. Francis freshman goalie Benedek Molnar standing on his head in the Terrier cage, their fans were delirious with anticipation.
Then Harvard erupted—almost literally.
First, with three minutes remaining in the quarter, Blyashov put his team ahead for good with a six-meter blast. Sechrest—who has been an inspired performer all season for the Crimson—hammered a tip-in past Molnar with two-minutes to go, then stole the ball on the Terriers’ next possession and beat Molnar on the break, restoring the visitors’ three-goal edge.
Austin Sechrest. Photo Courtesy: Matt Brown
“Austin is one of the most athletic kids I’ve ever coached,” Minnis said of his team’s co-captain, one of the primary reasons Harvard has won their conference the past two seasons. “He’s fast, he has a great shot and he sees the game so well.
“Last year we changed him from an attacker to a defender… he’s more dynamic this year, more comfortable at that position,” the Harvard coach added.
But, after a scrum at the center of the pool with freshman Valentin Horvath—his only pool time the entire match—the fiery Crimson lost his cool, igniting the St. Francis fans. When assessed a match exclusion with a minute left in the third, Sehcrest went ballistic, slamming a ball down on the pool deck, earning both a red card and catcalls as he walked out.
But Minnis’ club has proven its resilience the past two seasons, and Saturday was no different. Losing Sechrest and then Blyashov (3 exclusions) midway through the final period was no problem for the Crimson. Goals by senior Nathan Ondracek and Harvey provided enough of a hedge against late scores from Kostic and freshman Cody-Alexander Jones for the Crimson to escape the Terriers’ den with a victory, and tremendous momentum for the still-young season.
It was left to Lapkin to summarize what how thrilling a sporting experience Saturday’s match was, no matter who you rooted for.
Will Lapkin. Photo Courtesy: St. Francis Brooklyn Athletics
“We knew before this game it was gonna be a battle—and that’s exactly what it was,” he said.
The SoCal native certainly did his part, leading all scorers with four goals and five assists. Despite the loss, the Terriers (3-9; NWPC 3-1) are neither down nor out.
“We’re starting to get to know how each other plays, every single one of us,” Lapkin said. “We have so many different players who can do everything.”
These two teams meet again in Cambridge at the end of next month; surely must see polo—for all sports fans.