Aquamen Take One, Lose Two at Tourney

The Harvard men's water polo team opened its season last weekend at the Eastern League Tournament in Annapolis, Md., with bittersweet results.

The Crimson, seeded seventh in the 16-team tournament, dropped its first two contests to Bucknell and Army, both by scores of 11-5. Harvard then came back and defeated the University of Richmond, 9-7, to capture seventh place.

Freshmen Todd Forman and Peter Richards led all Harvard scorers with four goals each. Sophomore John Marshall added three goals for the tournament while junior Andy Freed netted two shots and assisted two others in the game against Richmond.

In that contest, Harvard (1-2) came out with intensity and jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The team took a 5-1 at the half and never looked back.

"The victory was decisive," senior Joe Kaufman said. "We outscored Army in the second half and took that momentum into the Richmond game."

Freed, Richards and Co-Captain Eric Bentley each scored twice against the Spiders, while junior Nick Branca, Marshall, and freshman Mike Johnson each netted one tally.

Last year's team finished its campaign with a record of 17-7. Six of the players from that team were lost to graduation, making this year's squad much younger and less experienced. Hole setter Bill Wolff, goalie Don Bensen, sprinter Fred Scherrer, and speedsters Ben Elizondo and Peter Kaiser are gone.

Coupled with the loss of veteran players is the fact that the team has been together for only two weeks. Other teams in the tournamnent have been together for over a month. Yet, Kaufman thinks Harvard will be a team to beat in the East.

"A lot of people will be surprised," he said. "We will be vying for the Eastern League Title at the end of November."

The Crimson travels to MIT Thursday. Though the program down the river has improved, Harvard is confident that it will be successful against its cross-town rivals.

The Engineers are riding high from a surprising second-place finish in the lower bracket at Annapolis.

THE NOTEBOOK: Freshman Steve Kan was unable to compete last weekend because he missed his physical due to the required Quantitative Reasoning test...Co-Captain Steve Dodge is sidelined indefinitely with an injury.