Shallow Poloists Fourth in East

Lack of depth finally caught up to Harvard's water polo team as the Crimson finished fourth in last weekend's NCAA Eastern Regionals at Cornell.

The Crimson, who all season have been playing with only five reserves, were forced to drop their graduate students for the NCAA competition. Consequently, Harvard traveled to Ithaca with only two substitutes to face teams like Cornell and eventual champion Army, whose rosters numbered well over 30.

After an exhausting seven hour bus ride on Friday night, Harvard opened the tournament Saturday morning with a 7-4 victory over Bucknell. That afternoon the Crimson outgunned Northeastern, 16-8. Cornell had also beaten Northeastern and Bucknell thus setting up a Saturday night showdown against Harvard.

Slowdown Game

Harvard, playing a slowdown game which emphasized ball handling, moved to a 4-1 lead at the end of the first half. However, late in the fourth quarter captain Steve Renard fouled out and Cornell promptly responded with a goal to tie the game 6-6.

Consequently, the Crimson entered the two overtime periods with only one substitute. With the score still tied a Cornell attacker, his back facing the Crimson goal, threw an unexpected shot over his head. The shot caught the defense off guard and flew into the corner of the net.

Powlison Out

More serious than the goal was the fact that Harvard lost the services of senior Dave Powlison, who was poked in the eye on the follow-through of the Cornell player's shot. Ten seconds later the Crimson's leading scorer for the season, senior Tom McGill, fouled out, leaving Harvard in a rare and hopeless water polo situation-a seven to six man disadvantage.

Reserve defenseman Mike Graff said, "This shot the shit out of us," in reference to Powlison's injury. However, the deflated Crimson did manage a respectable showing in the final three minutes. With two goals by Graff, Harvard held the final score to 13-9.

On Sunday, Harvard lost to runner-up Yale 15-9 and to Cornell, in a close rematch, without Powlison, 9-7. Army won the championship, 8-7, over Yale.

McGill was a first team All-East selection for his tournament performance. Freshman Peter Kellogg and Peter Hersch were second team picks.