Waterballers Splash Past Yale But Run Aground Against MIT

After a long wet day, a wrinkled but much-improved water polo team surfaced Saturday with an 8-7 upset win over Yale and a narrow 8-6 loss to MIT.

The squad moved its record to 2-3 in splitting the games at MIT's pool.

Sophomore Ethan Cruvant, who led the Harvard scoring attack with five goals in the two games, said yesterday he was especially happy about the surprising victory over Yale.

Late Bloomers

"We usually don't peak until very late in the season," he said, adding, "It was kind of nice that we were able to win a big game this early in the season."

Captain Jerry Feliciano said Sunday he is pleased with the team's progress thus far this year, but added that there are some major obstacles for the team to overcome if it is to be successful in the long run.

Feliciano said water polo's status as a club sport at Harvard has forced the team to prepare for its games with no faculty coach, improper facilities, and only four hours of practice each week.

Although Harvard was ranked second in New England last year, the team has been starting to fall behind because of the team's status and lack of facilities, Feliciano said.

Feliciano, who has been handling the coaching duties this year, said the team's biggest problem is a lack of conditioning caused by insufficient practice time. "It's almost impossible to play water polo if you're out of shape," he added.

He said the lack of conditioning was especially evident on defense, where "other teams have been fast-breaking us left and right."

Tough Training

Some prospective water polo players from the swim team have been unable to play this year because of the intensive training regimen instituted by the new swim coach Joe Bernal, Feliciano said.

Junior Malcolm Cooper, one of only two people on both squads, said Monday the training schedule for the two sports is a tough one, but added that he will keep it up because he enjoys both.

Freshman Bobby Hackett, silver medalist in the 1500 meter freestyle at the 1976 Olympics, however, is one member of the swim team who is interested in water polo but did not join the team this year.

"The main reason I didn't join was that it was only a club sport and there was no coach," Hackett said.

He said the team did not seem dedicated enough, adding. "If I do something, I don't want to do it half-baked."

This weekend the team will play in a tournament at Yale in which all of New England's top teams will participate.