Anything but a Splashing Success: Water Polo Snags Sixth in Easterns

ANNAPOLIS, Md.--The end was as frustrating as the middle and the beginning had been.

Unable to take advantage of the fresh start the Eastern Championships offered, the Harvard men's water polo team yesterday earned a mediocre sixth place in the season's final tournament.

Although the team's goal of a first in the NCAA tournament was out of the question, the Crimson still hoped to salvage a difficult season with a strong performance in the Easterns.

And, equally important, it wanted to end with a flourish the careers of the two players responsible for Harvard's meteoric rise from obscurity to a national ranking.

Despite play in the final game that was "spectacular," in Coach Steve Pike's words, Co-Captains Steve Munatones--the second all-time leading scorer Dave Fasi, who netted seven goals in the Crimson's first two contests, were to be frustrated.

Harvard was seeded fifth in the eight-team field, which represented the best of the New England, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic conferences. It opened against the fourth seed, Bucknell, on Saturday morning in Lejeune Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy.

The Bison had beaten Harvard, 8-6, in a close contest earlier this year, and Pike had predicted that this outcome would be determined by a single goal. It was even closer than that. The teams knotted the score seven times in an up-and-down battle in which neither side could grab the lead.

The Bison showed determination throughout, rallying five consecutive times from one-goal deficits to retie the contest. Harvard, on the other hand, could never earn even the smallest breathing room.

"We couldn't put them away," Pike said after praising Bucknell for repeatedly coming back when they needed to.

Finally, with 2:20 left, a Bison man-up goal put Bucknell on top, 9-7. The Crimson fought back, with Fasi scoring his fourth goal 27 seconds later, but it could not convert for the rest of the game. The Bison finalized the score at 10-8 by throwing the ball into the unguarded Harvard net as the clock expired.

Denied a chance to upset top-seeded Brown. Harvard faced UMass in an afternoon contest of first-round losers. The Minutemen were the tourney's last seed, and the Cantabs had beaten them handily in each of the squads' three earlier matches.

The first period was close. The Crimson was playing without freshman Bruce Novis, injured in the last period against Bucknell, and could not generate strong offensive chances.

Harvard found its form in the second and early third periods, earning six straight tallies and a 7-1 lead. The rally was capped by a perfect 20-yd. Munatones-to-Fasi pass for a breakaway goal. After the stars were taken out, the Minutemen fought back, and the game ended 10-3.

The Bitter End

"Today's loss was due to overconfidence," Pike said yesterday after the Crimson dropped a 9-7 decision to the seventh-needed University of Richmond. The match was close throughout, but Spider Jim Lewis's three final-period scores pushed his team over the edge.

Harvard's scoring machine Fasi was off, and he went 0-6 shooting. His defense was as tough as usual, if numerous Richmond complaints are any indication of his effectiveness in guarding the hole.

Munatones played tremendously at both ends, scored four goals on as many shots, and had the only Crimson assist.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard is now 20-8, with a single game left at Yale on Thursday....Goalie Brian Graham made a remarkable save of a Bison penalty shot in the first game....For the tournament, Munatones had five goals, Fasi seven, Rob Strauss six (three against Bucknell), Adam Button five, and Brian Johnston two.