The men’s polo team rebounded from a loss last weekend against Virginia, with a much-needed 14-11 victory against Harvard at Cambridge, Mass. The Red, in picking up their second road win in three tries, improved to 4-1 on the season. The women can do that one better, however, maintaining an unbeaten record following a weekend sweep of Harvard and UConn. With the wins, the women move to 5-0 on the season.

The men’s match against the Crimson was essentially a tale of two halves; with the Red amassing a 10-4 lead after the second chukker, and the home team outscoring the Red in the third and fourth chukker, 7-4. The Red’s proficiency in scoring during the first half was enough to compensate for its meager output in the second half.Diving Danny: Senior Dan Grew stretches for a ball during a match against Cowtown on Oct. 3. The men rebounded Saturday with a 14-11 win over Harvard.

“We had a much stronger first half,” said senior Dan Grew, “We made a lot of mistakes in the third chukker. Overall though, I’m happy with the way things played out.”

Despite his team scoring 14 overall goals, head coach David Eldredge was unhappy with his team’s penalty shooting “We need to work on our penalty shooting,” he said. “We should’ve scored a lot more shots, and that would’ve helped us extend the goal difference.”

The Red didn’t play its No. 1 and No. 2 starters, as Eldredge opted instead to start his three, four, and five starters against a “building” Harvard team.

“This game gave us an opportunity to work together, and gain experience and confidence with each other,” Grew said. Grew, the No. 4 starter, and junior David Dunstan, the fifth starter scored three goals apiece.

The coach’s move proved particularly beneficial for freshman Connor Pardell, who was able to get additional college experience, scoring an impressive 7 goals.

“Connor has added to the strong foundation of the team and has really contributed a lot,” Grew said. “We are working on developing him for the big games.”

Eldredge, shared similar thoughts, describing Pardell’s playing as “solid.”

The women’s contest against Harvard turned into a blowout early on, with impressive starts from juniors Jess Cross and Lizzie Wisner, and sophomore Ali Hoffman.

An early 2-1 lead had grown to 6-1 by the end of the first chukker, when the second wave, consisting of juniors Kate Harkness, Claire Glashan and senior Erin Bold rode on for the Red. By the half, the reinforcements had pushed the advantage to 10-2.

Holding their opponents to one more score, while tallying 10 themselves, the Harkness, Glashan, Bold trio stayed in for the second half, increasing the lead to the eventual 20-3 margin. Wisner finished with four scores, Glashan and Harkness scored three apiece while Hoffman added two, with a pony.

While the team’s match against Connecticut the next day proved more of a fair fight, the Red was more than up to the challenge. Behind the hot mallet of Wisner — who finished with 11 goals — the Red was able to hold off a late Huskies rally to earn the 17-14 victory.

Cornell took the lead early on, but Connecticut battled back to tie the score at 3-3. Hoffman, Cross and Wisner stayed in for the first and second chukkers, but the two teams finished the half deadlocked at eight apiece.

Bold was subbed in for Cross at the start of the third period, but the score still remained close with no team able to pull away. Cross’s return at the start of the fourth was apparently the spark the Red needed, however, as Cornell finally broke away with a four-goal surge.

Although the Huskies came back to within two at 16-14, Cornell held on for the victory.