By Larry Larkin (@larrylarkinsjsu) – Copy Editor | Senior Renee Fleming with the ball. | (Photo by Larry Larkin – The Spear)
It was an ideal Senior Day on Friday afternoon for Renee Fleming.
Fleming’s family and friends were in attendance for the final home match of her collegiate career.
“I had some family and friends, and I think that was really good,” Fleming said. “They’ve always supported me in this career, so just having them to support some more in my last game was really nice here.”
A day that started with honoring seniors Fleming and goalkeeper Grace Smith of No. 18 San Jose State women’s water polo (11-9, 0-2 MPSF) ended with a loss of 14-6 to No. 11 Harvard (18-4, 7-1 CWPA) in its final home match of the season.
The SRAC had a crowd that included SJSU’s men’s water polo team.
“We had the men’s [water polo] team out here and they were really keeping up the morale and all the fans,” Fleming said. “It was [a] really nice closure of our home games.”
Fleming went scoreless in the match.
Smith didn’t record a save while allowing 14 goals in the match.
SJSU head coach Beth Harberts spoke about the importance of celebrating the seniors.
“To be a student athlete at this level and have that high level of commitment in terms of giving your energy at practice daily and also giving your energy, your mental energy, to your classwork, I think it’s such a huge celebration of that dedication and that fortitude,” Harberts said. “So the fact that we’ve had our seniors here that have established that athletic career, it’s something that we really want to revere and celebrate because it is a hard full-time job.”
SJSU sophomores Darcy Spark and Jennine Osorio each scored two goals, leading the Spartans.
With the loss, the Spartans losing streak extends to three matches all of which came against nationally-ranked teams.
Despite this trend, Harberts is encouraged about her team not getting intimidated.
“The last games that we’ve had, we’ve been playing higher-ranked opponents, and it’s been a challenge even before the game starts based on the rankings,” Harberts said. “I think the cool thing about our team is we’re not intimidated by who we’re playing, regardless of the score.”
The Spartans couldn’t get back in the match as the Crimson led 12-5 at the end of the third quarter.
“We just didn’t come out the way we should,” Osorio said. “It was up to us to come out strong and we really didn’t come out strong.”
SJSU went 2-for-9 in the power play compared to Harvard’s 5-for-6.
The Spartans also lost the battle in goal percentage, making 18% of their shots compared to the Crimsons’ 54%.
Harvard first-year goalkeeper Orli Cooper recorded 10 saves.
Harvard senior Dany Zapata led the Crimson with four goals.
SJSU will be looking for its first conference win of the season in its next match, which is on the road against No. 1 Stanford on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Avery Aquatic Center.
