By Madyson Montoya (@MadysonMontoya):
No.18 San Jose State headed to the Harvard Invitation this weekend where it was challenged by ranked Ivy League programs. The Spartans were able to beat unranked Brown and No. 15 Wagner, but fell to No. 21 Harvard and No. 22 Princeton.
SJSU won its first match against the Bears 10-8 in wire-to-wire fashion. SJSU proved to be dynamic in the pool with eight team members score. Senior Klaudia Paradi and sophomore Jacqui Maisey had two goals apiece.
The Spartans were able to stay in the lead for the entire game thanks to senior goalie Tayler Peters protecting the net all four quarters. Peters had 10 saves in the game.
Up next for the Spartans was No. 21 Harvard. SJSU took the lead three times, but the two teams were tied heading into the final quarter.
Harvard’s Kristen Hong scored her third goal of the game with less than four minutes remaining. This put the Spartans behind by two.
Sophomore Caroline Kerwin pulled through with a comeback goal at the 55 second mark in the fourth quarter. The Spartans were pushing to get to overtime in the last seconds, but a Crimson steal late wrapped things up at 7-6.
Sunday morning SJSU met their next Ivy League competitor, Princeton. The Spartans came out hot and held a 5-2 after two quarters.
In the last two minutes of the third, two Tiger goals cut the deficit to one and they got that in the fourth, sending the contest to an overtime period.
The Tigers scored twice right away, to the Spartans one and handed SJSU its second loss of the invitational with a final score of 8-6. The Spartans will face Princeton again March 16 in Los Angeles.
SJSU ended the invitational on a high however as they pulled out a win against Wagner 7-6 to close out the weekend, helping the Spartans maintain the No. 18 ranking.
The Spartans take a two-week break before heading to Los Angeles where they will face Loyola Marymount, Cal-Baptist, Princeton, Marist and UCLA.