Aquadudes Play Happy Hosts at Blodgett, Capture Ivy Championship With 3-0 Slate

The Harvard men's water polo team, playing its best matches of the season, outclassed five other squads Saturday at Blodgett Pool to win its second consecutive Ivy League Championship.

The Crimson looked impressive throughout the tournament, especially in its 14-4, title-clinching victory over Brown's "B" squad.

In that contest, Harvard was led by second team All-New England goalie Don Benson, who blocked an incredible 22 of 26 Bruin shots, and by Tri-Captain Fred Scherrer, who scored a Crimson season-high six goals.

In the tourney's opening game, Harvard cruised past a hopelessly overmatched Dartmouth squad, 19-7, and then proceeded to beat Yale, 10-2.

"We played very, very well as a team," said Pete Kaiser, who notched five goals on the weekend. "Everybody was fired up because we knew we had to win. We were well prepared, both physically and mentally."

The demolition of Brown was especially satisfying for the players, because they had lost three straight times to the Bruins--including last week's 18-2 embarrassment in Providence.

Admittedly this was the Brown "B" team that Harvard beat--the nationally-ranked "A" squad was in California practicing for the NCAAs--but the second-stringers were no slouches. Earlier in the day, the Bruins had brushed aside the Big Green, 22-1, and had hopes of wresting the Ivy crown from the hosts.

But they ran into a Crimson defense, led by Benson, which frequently took the momentum away from the Bruins with steals and blocked shots.

Turning Point

In a 14-4 victory, it is difficult to pinpoint a "turning point" for the winning team. But with 4:56 remaining in the second quarter, and the Crimson ahead only 4-0, Brown had its best scoring opportunity of the game.

A Bruin winger received a pass at mid-pool, swam to a position just in front the goal, and, all alone, prepared to shoot.

For 10 seconds he toyed with Benson--passing the ball between his hands in an effort to catch the goalie diving the wrong way.

When he appeared to have succeeded, he lifted himself well above the water-line, grimaced, threw his arm behind his head like a quarterback and...had the ball stripped away from behind by a furiously on-rushing Joe Kaufman.

The hapless Bruin slammed his fist into the water with disgust, the Harvard bench erupted in applause and Brown was sunk.

The Bruins didn't end up scoring until 1:39 remained in the third quarter, at which point Harvard Coach Chris Hafferty substituted several freshmen for the starters.

One freshman who didn't get to play in the Brown game was Nick Branca, who had been awarded the coveted "'Shmen of the Year" title Friday night.

Branca proved that he deserved the honor by scoring five goals while playing the entire Dartmouth game. Until Scherrer's performance, Branca's was the Crimson's highest individual scoring output of the season.

Branca was rewarded for his success by being rested for the bulk of the next two matches.

"I told you I should play more," Branca joked to his teammates after the Dartmouth game. "Yeah, you're a scoring machine," they responded.

Fellow scoring machine Scherrer was pleased with his performance because it meant he was "finally getting my game under control. I'd been in a slump earlier in the season, and I'm beginning to play better."

The Crimson will need solid performances from every player next weekend at the New England Championships in Providence. Only the top two teams from that tournament earn the right to go to Easterns, and the Crimson is seeded third, behind Brown and UMass. The anticipated semi-final match against the Minutemen will be the rubber game of the season for these teams, as they have traded 6-5 victories thus far.

THE NOTEBOOK: Branca was the most easily recognizable player in the pool--the team celebrated his 'Shmen award by coloring his chest with permanent red, blue, and green markers....The oldest player in the pool was a 27-year old Dartmouth medical school student. The Big Green has a "club team," making anybody eligible to play for them. His wife and baby sat in the stands....The crowd of 50 was Harvard's biggest and noisiest of the season.