Aquamen Drown Brown Capture N.E. Tourney

In an unprecedented upset, the Harvard men's water polo team trounced the Brown B-squad and clobbered MIT, Yale, and UMass to make a clean sweep of this weekend's New England League Tournament at Blodgett Pool.

The Crimson had never beaten Brown, and for Tri-Captains Brian Johnston, Jon Sandler, and Rob Strauss, the Friday triumph vindicated four years of frustration.

In goal, sophomore Don Benson set up an all but impenetrable wall of defense, denied 16 of Brown's attempts, including seven in the last quarter and a direct penalty shot from four meters.

Harvard's offense was unstoppable.

Fred Scherer set the pace early by consistently outracing the Bruin opponents to the ball as well as firing in two goals in the first three minutes of the game. Hard-fought battles both above and below the surface raged at both ends of the pool. The relentless Crimson leapt to an early 3-0 lead and prompted a Brown timeout.

Agressive play in the hole (area in front of the net) helped Harvard early, but the Bruins stiffened in the second quarter. As the smoke cleared and the froth settled, Blodgett Pool's home team had only a small halftime edge, 5-4.

Harvard played out the game with increasing intensity, scoring seven times in the second half, while keeping Brown to a pair of goals. Strauss was high scorer with five tallies and Johnston added four assists. Bruce Novis (an assist and an unassisted breakaway goal) played an outstanding game.

Super Sandler

The game was not without spectacular moments. After Benson's miraculous block of a penalty shot--with five seconds left in the game--the ball scooted over to Sandler who, despite three torn ligaments in his left hand, hurled the ball 40 meters in the air over the outstretched arms of the Brown goalie for the final goal of the game. Harvard 12, Brown 6.

The other games: Harvard handily trampled MIT, 16-2; came from behind to win against UMass, 6-5; and dominated Yale, 18-10. Harvard's record stands at 7-4.

First-year Harvard Coach Chris Hafferty takes his team to Annapolis this coming weekend to face Navy.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson will take a shot at Brown's A-squad--which hasn't lost to a New England team in over 10 years--in two weeks at Providence.