Men's Water Polo

One month after going 1-4 in its season-opening tournament at Navy, the Harvard men's water polo team this weekend came full circle.

Behind the strong offensive play of senior Captain Adam Button and the strong defensive play of senior goalie Brian Graham and freshman goalie Donnie Benson, the Crimson finished 4-1 in the weekend's New England Qualifying Tournament at Brown.

The squad's only loss--in yesterday's final--was a 21-6 drubbing at the hands of archrival Brown.

That loss overshadowed an impressive showing by Harvard in its first four games, but the strong showing wasn't lost on New England officials, who will use the weekend's results for the seedings of the New England Championships in two weeks.

As a result, Harvard has all but assured itself of at least a top three seeding when the New Englands roll around.

Particularly impressive was Button, who finished the weekend as the Crimson's leading scorer.

Harvard opened the tourney with an 8-1 of Yale. Only a last second Bulldog goal averted what would have been a rare water polo shutout.

The aquadudes then reeled off quick victories over MIT and the University of Massachusetts to close out the first day's action.

In semifinal action yesterday, Harvard easily disposed of Columbia thanks to a tenacious defense that has become one of the squad's strong suits.

"We've been working hard on defense," Button said last night, "and it has improved tremendously."

And though you couldn't tell it from the score. Button and his teammates were pretty pleased with their effort in the Brown loss.

"Most of their scores came on counterattacks," Button said.

"If we can work really hard on stopping that." Button continued, "we should give them a strong contest next time."