Brown University
Harvard
Women's Water Polo Edges Harvard, 8-7, for Fifth at CWPAs
4/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
PRINCETON, N.J. – Senior Rebecca Zak scored the game-winning goal with 1:02 remaining, and classmate Liz Rosen netted three goals as Brown University women's water polo beat Harvard University, 8-7, in the fifth-place game of the CWPA Championship at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool on Sunday afternoon.
The sixth-seeded Bears (20-17) have now finished in fifth place in the league in each of the last three years and took the season series from the fourth-seeded Crimson (20-13). Brown topped Harvard 6-5 in the Ivy semifinals on Feb. 22 at Princeton while the Crimson edged the Bears, 7-6, in Cambridge, Mass., on April 16.
In Brown head coach Felix Mercado's eight seasons as the leader of the Bears, the club has now finished above .500 in six different seasons and recorded 20 or more wins in each of five seasons.
Zak (Carlsbad, Calif.), one of the team's center defenders, tallied just her fifth goal of the season to give the Bears the lead for good. Rosen (San Anselmo, Calif.) paced the Brown offense while junior Olivia Santiago (Los Altos, Calif.) and freshman Jessica Heilman (Menlo Park, Calif.) each notched two goals and four ejections drawn.
Freshman goalie Marisol Dakan (Pasadena, Calif.) made 12 saves and helped the Bears hold the Crimson to 4-for-12 on the power play. She finished the year with 403 saves – a Brown single-season record, eclipsing Evan Cranston's record of 296 saves in 2012.
Sophomore Shannon Crowley (Seal Beach, Calif.), a Second Team All-Tournament selection, rounded out a balanced team effort with five assists, two steals, and three field blocks. She aided the Bears in going 5-for-10 on the 6-on-5 advantage.
With the score tied at 6-6 heading into the fourth quarter, Rosen gave the Bears a 7-6 lead with a goal less than a minute into the period. The Crimson knotted the score at 7-7 with 5:12 to play, but Brown blanked Harvard the rest of the way and took the decision behind Zak's goal with 62 seconds left.
The two teams played evenly throughout with each side scoring three goals in the first quarter, two in the second, and one apiece in the third period.
After Harvard opened with a 1-0 lead, Santiago tied the game at 1-1 at the 6:53 mark of the first frame. Rosen put Brown ahead 2-1 midway through the quarter before the Crimson registered the next two goals to go ahead 3-2. Santiago netted her second goal of the quarter to tie it at 3-3 after the first.
The Crimson gained a 4-3 lead to start the second, but Heilman countered with back-to-back goals to propel Brown to a 5-4 edge with 4:45 left in the half. The Crimson scored with 1:12 to go before the break to tie it at 5-5 at the intermission.
After 4:27 of scoreless play to start the third, Harvard gained a 6-5 edge, but Brown answered on a goal from Rosen with 56 seconds on the clock in the quarter, setting up the Bears to win the game with a 2-1 fourth quarter.
Harvard's Yoshi Anderson led all scorers with four goals while Michelle Martinelli logged the team's other three goals. Net-minder Ariel Dukes charted four saves.
Brown 8, Harvard 7
Brown....................... 3…2…1…2…8
Harvard..................... 3…2…1…1…7
Brown Goals: Rosen 3, Santiago 2, Heilman 2, Zak.
Brown Saves: Dakan 12.
