Aquadudes Dunk MIT in OT

Halloween came early for the Harvard men's water polo team last night at Blodgett Pool.

The MIT Engineers knocked on the Crimson's front door and brought many tricks and few treats with them.

But Harvard, behind the heroics of sophomore John Marshall, recovered from an initial scare to pull out a 15-12 overtime victory for the squad's fourth consecutive win over MIT this season.

MIT's Will Schrorr played the role of the Wicked Witch of the East, pummelling Harvard senior goalie Greg Beber with numerous shots from the hole and tallying seven times.

Harvard's freshman Mike Johnson led the squad with four goals, while Marshall and Co-Captain Eric Bentley each added three scores for the Crimson (16-5).

The first period looked like a sneak preview of Halloween IV.

The Engineers were a team of Michael Myers, victimizing the Crimson with a flawless offense that consistently produced open shots around the net and for Schrorr in the hole.

After Johnson tallied for Harvard, MIT scored seven consecutive goals to lead, 7-1, at the end of the quarter.

Schrorr twice beat freshman Kio Lippitt in the hole to put MIT ahead, 2-1, just two minutes into the game. Max Ochoa's three goals and Schrorr's third tally left the shell-shocked Crimson trailing by six goals. After one period, MIT already had two players with hat tricks and the Crimson had barely threatened Engineer goalie Paul Wysocki.

"We had handled their hole-setter before, but give MIT credit," Harvard Coach Chris Hafferty said. "They made some adjustments and we didn't."

"Our offense was sluggish," Hafferty added. "They were playing tentatively and took low percentage shots."

Trailing 10-4 at halftime, Hafferty started employing a sloughing defense to prevent MIT from getting the ball to Schrorr in the hole. The Engineers did not adjust to the strategy, allowing the Crimson to slowly climb back into the game on two goals by Todd Forman and scores by Johnson and Andy Freed.

Peter Richard's goal off a break with five minutes remaining in regulation cut the deficit to 10-9. Beber then robbed Schrorr on a power-play shot in front of the net and Ochoa's subsequent rebound shot hit the post. A power-play goal by Johnson tied the game with two minutes left.

However, Schrorr tallied his sixth goal of the game 30 seconds later when Harvard failed to double-team him in the hole. Trailing 11-10 with one minute remaining, Richards broke open on a fast break and outraced the entire MIT defense to beat Wysocki and tie the game at 11.

The stage was set for Marshall to take the bite out of this Halloween scare.

With 13 seconds remaining and MIT on a power play, Marshall helped send the game into overtime when he skied out of the pool to intercept a pass intended for a wide-open Engineer in front of the Harvard goal.

Marshall then scored two tip-in goals in the first 41 seconds of overtime to put the Crimson ahead to stay. Bentley and Johnson's tallies sandwiched Schrorr's seventh goal of the game to clinch the come-from-behind victory for Harvard.