Polomen Get Short End of Pool, 19-16

The high-powered offense of the Harvard men's water polo team could not keep up with its defense against 13th-ranked Massachusetts last night.

Loose defense and mental mistakes allowed the Minuteman to race to an early lead and hold on to win at Blodgett Pool, 19-15.

"We let men get a meter away from [us]," Harvard coach Andy Freed '90 said. "When you do that in a sport, it's not going to bode well for you."

No matter what the Crimson did, the Minutemen attackers stayed one stroke ahead of their counterparts, a fact which doomed the home team.

Massachusetts jumped out to an early three-goal lead, but Harvard quickly fought back to tie it in less than two minutes, only to fall down by three again at the end of the quarter. The Crimson trailed for the rest of the game.

That was Harvard's main problem: whenever its offense seemed ready to make a comeback, the defense allowed its opponents to put themselves back in a safe lead.

"We can't give up a goal every time we come down to guard [our end]," junior Jose Busquets said.

"We had to work to get their goals, [but] we gave up easy shots," Freed said.

The Minutemen started out the second quarter with two easy goals. A penalty shot and a power-play goal helped Massachusetts extend its lead to 10-4, and Harvard never got within four goals again.

"We kept on stressing the defense, but we never ran it as intended," Busquets said. "Our offense was pretty good, but we can't let the other team score 19."

Nevertheless, Freed thought that there were positive points to the game.

"It was a four-goal game, and if you take out the first four minutes, it was even," Freed said. "A championship team can come back, and we did that. They're very beatable, and we are the team that can beat them."

The Crimson will get a chance to redeem itself against the Minutemen on next Saturday in the Northeastern Conference Tournament.

Harvard will have its work cut out for it, since the pool at the Tournament is only 25 yards long. Freed has often said that his speedy squad prefers the regulation-sized pool.

"We certainly want a 30-meter pool," Freed said.

In the short pools, the defensive pressure becomes more important, one of the Crimson's main troubles last night.

Offensively, the Crimson has no problems. Co-captain Jeff Zimmerman four goals to extend his season total to 63.

"He had 25 of those in four games--that's an All-American pace," Freed said. "Sixty-three goals is a season for most people."

Nevertheless, Harvard is determined to save its best play for last.

"We're geared for the end of the year," Freed said. "Nobody cares if the Braves lost to the Marlins in July."