Aquamen Down UMass, Look Ahead to Middies

The buzzwords around the Harvard men's water polo team this week were "Beat Navy." They should have been "Mind the Minutemen."

The Crimson, looking forward to the Eastern League Tournament in Annapolis, Md., used a combination of spotty play, a great goal and a sensational piece of luck to pull out an 8-7 victory over the stubborn men from UMass.

Harvard sprinted out to a 6-3 lead in the first half, thanks to Tri-Captain Fred Sherrer's hat trick and Tri-Captain Bill Wolff's passing (two assists).

But once the second half began the offense turned stale, allowing UMass to chip away at the Crimson's lead, eventually tying the game, 6-6, with 5:55 left in regulation.

Thirty seconds after the UMass equalizer, sophomore Eric Bentley received the ball in front of the goal and appeared to get fouled across the back by a UMass defender. While going underwater, Bentley flipped the ball over his back into the goal.

"The backhand is a pretty basic shot," said a modest Bentley. But the spectacular goal fired up the Harvard bench and the 150 or so fans who made it to Blodgett last night.

"It was nice to have a crowd," said senior Peter Kaiser. "In a close game, they go crazy."

But the Minutemen rallied, crowd and all, to tie the score again at 7-7. Then with under a minute to play, the Crimson seemed to be in trouble in its offensive end. The 35-second shot clock was down to two and a Harvard violation was imminent.

But the referee called an ejection on UMass, resetting the shot clock. This led to Kyle Enright's game winner with only 28 seconds left.

"They always get psyched for us," said Wolff, who played all 28 minutes. "We play so good sometimes. But it's like everything else--we need consistency in out mental attitude."