Aquawomen Clubbed at Eastern Tourney

Going into last weekend's Eastern tournament in Bucknell, Pa., the Harvard women's water polo team was unbeaten in varsity competition. It was against club teams--those with no eligibility requirements--that the Crimson was having trouble.

And in an field of mostly of club teams, the aquawomen had trouble once again. Harvard finished 11th in a 12-team field in the first-ever Eastern championships. The Crimson failed to win a contest in the three-day tournament.

"There's a dilemma now with club teams," said Harvard Coach Chris Haggerty. "Myself and the coach from Slippery Rock are trying to encourage a strictly undergraduate competition."

But Harvard had its moments in the tournament. "We swam really hard," said Co-Captain Leslie Barbi. "We have a really inexperienced team, with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and when mistakes are made against teams like Sports Fest [the National Sports Festival development team], they count."

"In all our games we had good stretches," Haggerty said.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard's next tournament will be this weekend at MIT. The Crimson will face Brown in the opening game at 6 p.m. Friday, with contests scheduled against the University of Massachusetts and MIT at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday...Harvard is 2-0 against Brown, 0-1-1 against MIT, and will meet UMass for the first time this season.