Aquamen Nab Fourth At Brown Invitational

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

It was seeded fourth in the tournament, and that is exactly where it finished.

Missing so much of its veteran talent from last year's team, the Harvard men's water polo team was surprised to be seeded as high as fourth. But the Crimson surpassed its own hopes and proved the pundits right, placing fourth in a 16-team field at last weekend's Navy Invitational in Anapolis, Md.

"Everyone played with a lot of intensity throughout each game," junior Co-Captain John Marshall said. "I'm very confident about how we're going to do this season."

The Crimson (2-2 overall, 0-1 Ivy) entered the tournament a bit undermanned, lacking the services of freshman Jeff Zimmerman, sidelined for two more weeks with a broken arm, and senior Bruce Berkeley just returning from a year abroad, but Harvard came away with a win against Richmond, 15-11.

"I thought the offense was strong in the first game against Richmond," hole-setter Chad Barker said. "We kept things open and spread out, and we ran the offense well.

Harvard finished the day with a narrow 9-7 victory over Iona before falling just short to eventual champion and perennial nemesis Brown, 10-8. The Crimson succeeded in implementing its slow-down strategy, but scores still ran high on the first day of action.

"We were much more successful running a control-ball offense' Marshall said. "But it was a little surprising to see games going to 10 goals. That is to our disadvantage. I'd like to see us hold teams to about six goals."

Slippery Start

Harvard played its final game of the tournament Sunday against Slippery Rock and suffered a tough loss, 13-8. Slippery Rock finished just ahead of Harvard in the tournament's final standings.

"In our last game, we underestimated Slippery Rock a little bit," Barker said. "There are a few things we still need to work on, our outside shooting and our passing, and at times we got beat going back on defense. But the team played well together for the first tournament of the season."

Of course, it's still early, but a fourth-place finish and a strong effort against the Ivy League favorite Bruins makes one thing very clear--the Crimson will be making waves in Blodgett Pool this season.

THE NOTEBOOK: Next up for the Crimson is a match down the river at MIT Thursday night...But don't be afraid to accuse the squad of looking beyond the MIT match. Harvard faces the daunting challenge of competing against number-one Cal-Berkeley, number-two UCLA and defending national champions California-Irvine in next weekend's Brown Invitational. "It's an opportunity to play against a level of waterpolo we will not see on the East coast," Marshall said.