Huskies 10-6 Win Sinks Crimson's Waterpolo Hopes

Coming off a 12-3 rout over Northeastern at last weekend's MIT tourney, the Harvard waterpolo team expected fun and games at Wednesday's rematch with the Huskies.

But Northeastern took advantage of an under-staffed Crimson squad and a novice Crimson goalie to master Harvard, 10-6, in the Huskies' pool.

Two-Man Bench

Only nine of the Crimson's 20-man team attended the meeting which left captain Phil Jonckheer with a two-man bench. Regular goalie Brent Haywood, who starred in the MIT tourney, didn't show up and defenseman Brian Mendes wound up in the cage for the first time.

"Besides not being able to tighten up our defense, we were shooting like three-year-olds," Jonckheer said after the game.

The Crimson jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but fell behind, 4-3, at the half following a series of bobbled stops by goalie Mendes.

Holding Penalties

After a series of questionable holding penalities, the Crimson rallied in the last quarter to close the Huskies' lead to 8-6. But a referee accused offensive forward Peter Kellogg of punching a Northeastern player and then ejected Kellogg from the game. Harvard's momentum came to a standstill.

"We don't consider this a defeat," said Jonckheer, who led the Crimson with three goals. "We know we can beat them, especially if we can get the team together."

Harvard, now 5-1 for the season, confronts a rapidly improving Brown team next Wednesday in Providence.