Aquadudes Seventh At Eastern Tourney

The Harvard men's water polo team swam into the Eastern League Championships seeded last and finished its season placing seventh out of eight teams in the tournament at Brown University.

But the results weren't as bad as they appeared.

The water polo players lost their first two games to Navy and Iona decisively, but their energetic win against Washington and Lee in the final game yesterday made the trip worthwhile.

In its first game, the Crimson fell hard to top-seeded Navy, 13-3. Harvard's 12-7 loss to Iona in the second game was a slight improvement. Co-Captain Steve Dodge blamed the lagging offense for the slow start.

"We were setting commonly at five or six meters away from the goal," Dodge said. "We had good drivers, and a good potential for shots, but we weren't making opportunities for these people."

Though Harvard's offense struggled, the games were not without high points. John Marshall gave the Crimson a goal at the buzzer in the team's game against Iona. Steve Kan, who has what Dodge calls "a rifle of an arm," also blasted one by the goalie.

Performing strongly for the Harvard offense, Mike Johnson and Todd Forman both made the All-New England Division I First Team. Forman played more minutes as the tournament progressed, nursing a hand injury that did not seem to hamper his play. Peter Richards was selected to the second team. Nick Branca and Eric Bentley also contributed to the barely a-float offense in the first two games.

"Both of those games we were playing a defensive game because we couldn't get our offense together," Dodge said. "But we came back with a vengeance in the third game."

The Crimson emerged from the two-game slump and pounded nationally-ranked Washington and Lee, 12-5. Harvard hopes this victory will help it pull back up into the national top 20.

After playing neck and neck in the first quarter, the Crimson dove ahead. It drew fouls left and right and reaped 42 percent of its goals on power plays. Washington and Lee, after failing to answer five Harvard goals and losing one of their key players to penalties, prepared to jump ship.

"We just swam the hell out of them. We broke them mentally," said Dodge.

John Marshall scored three out of the five goals that quarter, with the lone senior on the team, Joe Kaufman, feeding him all three. Kaufman also scored the final goal of the game, capping off a successful four years with the team.

"I guess because I was the only senior playing it was nice to feel like I went out on a winning game," Kaufman said. "I think we all just got together and decided that we were not going to be denied today."

With the win, the Crimson pulled itself out of a lull it had been swimming in since a surprise victory over Army earlier in the season.

"Our counter-attack was much more intense in the third game," Dodge said. "We got really pumped."

"You'd look into their eyes and you knew they were a beaten team, and that made you really want to score," added Kaufman.

Harvard goalie Greg Beber also had a hand in the win, blocking the few shots Washington and Lee managed and fending off balls throughout the whole tournament.

"He played an incredible tournament, making saves on more than one one-on-nobody situations, which is tough," praised Dodge.