UCLA Gives Hosts 29-5 Polo Lesson

We didn't expect to win. We came out there with nothing to lose and everything to gain, and I think we learned a lot about how water polo is played by the best players in the country. --Houston Hall, Harvard player Bob Horn has done a great thing for water polo in the East.   --Steve Pike, Harvard coach

There were no losers at Blodgett Pool last night. Sure, the final score on the board--29-5--seemed to lean a bit ponderously towards the UCLA side of the pool, but no one at the Harvard end shed any tears, either.

"I was so happy with this team" head coach Steve Pike said shortly after the final buzzer. "This could have been a terrible experience for the players, but they really came through it well."

Pike called the game "a moral victory," which may sound a bit reminiscent of a Jimmy Carter compromise until you consider the opponent--UCLA, national runner -up in last year's NCAAs, a squad that had held Yale and MIT to a total of three goals. If it still doesn't constitute a moral victory in your book, try to imagine an equivalent accomplishment, like the South House football team scoring a TD against a UCLA grid squad.

UCLA head coach Bob Horn said he was "tickled to death that water polo's now a varsity sport at Harvard." But Horn wasn't laughing at the Crimson. "I'm really pleased with the progress that Harvard has already made. They did everything right, but our competition is tougher, so our tempo is just a little bit higher. The Ivy League is going to provide us with some good competition in the near future."

UCLA doused Yale 35-2 on Wednesday, then sprinkled MIT 34-1 yesterday, just about an hour and a half before taking on the Crimson. Harvard didn't waste any opportunities to gain an edge on its California opponent--between the MIT and Crimson games, the 22 Bruins were "treated" to a Lowell House dinner. (How was the food, guys? Grimace, burp, fart.)

But the golden boys (they're still practicing outside in LA) probably could have eaten MBTA cinder blocks and drunk from the Charles, and it still wouldn't have affected their performance much.

Brothers Bruce and Steve Tonne accounted for 18 UCLA goals, while another pair of siblings, Ed and Bob Robinson, total ed three. Bruin Goalie Dave Rosen, who by 10 p.m. had been treading water for nearly four hours, made three spectacular saves.

On the Harvard side, Richard Reid stopped six UCLA shots. AAU all-American and freshman aquastar David Fasi beat Rosen twice for the Crimson. Rich Guerra, Houston Hall and Courtney Roberts scored the other Harvard goals.

"I can't say enough about Fasi, Roberts or Munatones (another of Harvard's freshman aces)," Pike said. "When Fasi was out there playing against that kid from UCLA it looked the way the game is supposed to be played. It was just a tremendously exciting moment in sports."