Bears Bounce M. Water Polo

The Harvard men's water polo team fell 10-7 to Ivy League rival Brown last night at Blodgett Pool. The Crimson's performance was marred by inconsistent play, and it was unable to recover from a large half-time deficit.

Despite a strong second half in which the Crimson outscored the Bears, Harvard (4-13) fell short at the end of the game, suffering a disappointing loss. BROWN10 HARVARD  7

Harvard came out hungry after a frustrating weekend at the North-South Invitational tournament, but it was unable to convert on several early shot opportunities. Finally, playing with a man advantage after a Brown ejection, junior Dvor Bar-Ziv scored and the Crimson took a short-lived 1-0 lead.

Brown scored on the following two drives and took command of the rest of the first quarter. Following a steal, Brown lobbed the ball past Harvard sophomore goalie Josh Bliesath and took a 3-1 lead to the end of the quarter.

Captain Mike Zimmerman responded immediately at the beginning of the second quarter with a strong goal from the hole position.

Only down 3-2, Harvard had a great opportunity to assert control of the game. However, the Crimson made several mental mistakes and gave up an easy goal to the Bears.

Brown stole the ball twice and caught Harvard napping on defense for a 4-2 lead. The Crimson followed the Brown goal with three brilliant steals, but it was only able to convert on one of them with a goal by senior Chris Tilghman for a 4-3 score.

At this point, however, Brown took control of the game. The Bears reeled off three consecutive goals, including both a fast-break opportunity and a 6-on-5 man advantage for a commanding 7-3 lead at halftime.

Although Brown was clearly playing well, Harvard lost control of the game because of mental lapses on defense. The Crimson made several bad passes and gave up easy goals to Brown.

Coach Jim Floerchinger explained Harvard's problems in the second quarter.

"We were unable to convert the basic things," Floerchinger said. "We were inconsistent and allowed Brown to take control of a game that we could have won."

After the disappointing first half, Harvard came out flat to open the second half. The defense lagged behind the Brown offense and allowed two consecutive goals for a 9-3 deficit. These defensive lapses were partly the result of Harvard's aggressive offensive strategy. The Crimson did not return quickly to defense after attacking on offense.

Despite its tough offensive play, the Crimson was unable to convert because of poor shot selection. Many of the Crimson's shots were either directly at the goalie or nowhere close to the net. Harvard's percentage of shots that were converted into goals was only a relatively low 25 percent.

Harvard stayed in the entire game because of strong play by Bliesath. He made key stops and gave Harvard a shot at winning the game once its offense started clicking in the middle of the third quarter.

Harvard converted two strong goals in the third quarter and outscored Brown 4-1 for the rest of the game. Zimmerman scored twice during this stretch, including on a penalty shot with 2:00 minutes left to pull the Crimson to the final score of 10-7.

Harvard next tried several two point shots but was unable to convert any of them because of strong saves by the Brown goalie.

The loss was particularly disappointing to Zimmerman because Brown is Harvard's main rival.

"We really wanted this game and could have won it," Zimmerman said. "They are a strong team, but we still should have won."

Citing the strong spurts of offensive play, Floerchinger termed the game a "break out" performance. He maintained that despite the defensive lapses, Harvard displayed sometimes "brilliant" play.

Floerchinger still believes that the Crimson will qualify for the NCAA regionals. In order to qualify, Harvard must win three out of four games this weekend against its Northern Division rivals.