W. Water Polo Takes Second at Northerns

Having had a tumultuous season thus far, the Harvard women's water polo team couldn't expect this weekend to be different.

And it wasn't.

On Friday, the Crimson traveled to Wesleyan, Conn., to take on Yale, Dartmouth, Brown and UMass in the Northeast Championships.

By the time they headed back to Cambridge yesterday afternoon, not only did they have three wins under their belt, but they also had suffered from an array of injuries, some of which were caused by overexposure to a chemically unbalanced pool.

The injuries began on Friday morning when freshman Christine Meiers broke her hand in practice. In addition to Meiers, freshman goalie Danielle McCarthy was out for the weekend with shoulder problems.

"Despite physical injuries, we feel really great mentally about this weekend," sophomore Jesse Gunderson said.

First up for Harvard was Yale. Experiencing very little difficulty, the Crimson breezed past the Bulldogs, 15-2.

"Yale is not a very strong team," Gunderson said. "We wanted to shut them out rather than run up the score. And we came close."

Harvard's focus in the Yale game, as well as for the next two games against Dartmouth and Brown, was to fine-tune its game. With their former assistant coach Rick Handt having recently taken over the reins as head coach, Harvard was concentrating on a new strategy.

"We revamped our man-up play," Gunderson said. "We used these games to work on the new adjustments."

After trouncing Yale, Harvard moved on to its next victim, Dartmouth. The Big Green could only manager a lone goal in the Crimson's 13-1 landslide.

On Sunday morning, Harvard cruised past its third Ivy opponent of the weekend, Brown.

"Brown is a fairly solid team," Gunderson said. "But we still weren't concerned about losing."

This time the score was a bit closer; Harvard won 12-7.

However, Harvard paid a price for its victory. The chlorine in the pool resulted in chemical burns and stinging eyes for many Crimson players.

"After the Brown game, I couldn't open my eyes," Gunderson said. "I had chemical burns on my head and face. I had to be led to the pool by hand for the UMass game."

Gunderson played through the pain. But two players--junior Sonali Das and captain Kit Hodge--had to sit out the UMass contest.

Harvard tried to use coffee creamers and mineral oil to coat their eyes and remedy the situation. The result was clouded vision.

"We just wanted to get the game over with," Gunderson said. "But we managed to maintain a level of decorum through the madness."

UMass had not played a game Sunday morning and was considerably fresher than the badly-stung Harvard team.

But, despite the injuries, Harvard started out ahead. Although they eventually fell 12-5, the Crimson was encouraged by its performance.

"Our team played really well all weekend, "Handt said. "Leslie Bennett, Jesse Gunderson, and Natasha Magnuson all had particularly strong performances against UMass."

Harvard now focuses on Easterns, which will be held at Blodgett Pool next weekend. To qualify for Nationals, Harvard must finish in the top three.

The four main obstacles in its way are Maryland, Princeton, UMass and Villanova. With the exception of Villanova, Harvard has lost to each of those teams. However, with the team's progress this season, an upset is very possible.

"I am very confident that we can finish in the top three," Handt said. "In fact, I think we have the ability to finish second, especially with the team morale right now."

The Crimson can only hope that Blodgett's chlorine level will be much more tolerable.