Polomen Keep Piling on Goals

The Harvard men's water polo team is so goal-oriented it could make a pre-med student cry--piling up an average of 24.1 scores per game over the weekend--but couldn't quite translate that into a four-game weekend sweep.

Harvard (5-1 Eastern Water Polo Association) defeated Army 18-15 (in overtime), the Merchant Marine Academy 24-13 and Fordham 30-12, but lost to Iona, 20-15 in Kings Point, N.Y. yesterday and Saturday.

Against Fordham and the Marine Academy, Coach Andy Freed '90 removed his starters after just one quarter of play.

Co-captain Jeff Zimmerman scored a school-record 11 goals against Army, the highest total since men's water polo became a varsity sport in 1981. Zimmerman scored a total of 25 goals in the four games.

"Army just kept leaving him open," Freed said. "You'd figure that after six or seven goals, they'd want to double-team or at least cover him. But they didn't, and Zim just took 'em to town."

"I just got off a lot of shots," Zimmerman said. "Most of them were close in, from the hole."

Stumble Against Iona

But while the Crimson steamrolled through its first three games, it stumbled against Iona. The loss to Iona was Harvard's first league loss and highlighted its tendency to succumb to defensive lapses.

"The biggest problem for us right now is playing four solid quarters," co-captain Jeff Zimmerman said. "We're up a few goals, down a few goals, we let up a little. It's very perplexing."

Harvard led at halftime, 9-8, but Iona charged ahead to a 15-11 lead in the third quarter and rode that margin to the finish line.

Freed blamed the turnaround on a poor defense and the unusual dimensions of the pool. Instead of a normal 30-meter pool, the Kings Point pool measured only 23 meters in length.

As a result, Freed said, offenses could shoot from virtually anywhere in the pool. When the Harvard team started to lag on defense, it was no trouble for Iona to score quickly.

"You were never too far away to take a shot," Freed said. "We were playing about a meter off them, giving them the chances they needed to make the pass."

Harvard's next game is against Massachusetts Friday night at Blodgett Pool. The Minutemen are ranked 13th in the country (Harvard is ranked 20th), but the ever-optimistic Freed said he thought Massachusetts was not invincible.

`I've seen them before, and I think they can be beaten," Freed said.