Season Ends Valiently for Water Polo

There's both good news and bad news.

The Harvard men's water polo team came to the end of its season this weekend at the Eastern Qualifying Tournament at Brown, losing a heartbreaking 7-5 contest to the Bears on Saturday.

The Crimson, however, walked away from the weekend excursion on a winning note with heads held high.

Following the loss to Brown, the team was victorious over both Boston College and Fordham, thereby ending its season not only on a high note, but with well-deserved respect.

"It is a great credit to our team to be able to have played this well at the end of the season," said Coach Don Benson '88.

Harvard's biggest challenge this past weekend was Brown. In order to advance to the Eastern Championships the following weekend, the team needed a win. This victory eluded' the Crimson in a match that proved to be an incredibly hard-fought contest.

Throughout the first three quarters of play, the two teams appeared to be exactly evenly matched--both schools netting only one goal per each period of play.

Entering the fourth quarter with a score of 3-3, Harvard's chances looked good.

Too good, as it turned out.

With little over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Bears scored to take the lead at 4-3. Brown used this sudden momentum to its advantage, netting a further two goals in quick succession to take a 6-3 lead with just three minutes to go in the game.

The victims of two disallowed goals from shots taken by junior Chris Tilghman, the Crimson was unable to regroup completely from its opponents scoring streak. Harvard battled back fiercely but was forced to settle for a final score of 5-7.

"The Brown game was really tight," said senior goalkeeper Ed Chen. "Going into the fourth quarter with a score of 3-3, I think we could have won. But we broke down a little in the fourth and let them have a few easy goals."

This loss was a devastating end for a team whose season-long struggle for success had finally begun to pay off.

"It's a shame," Benson said. "Now that we have started to play really well, it had to come to such an abrupt end."

Harvard's weekend, however, was sweetened by powerful wins over B.C. and Fordham.

First up were the Eagles. Having dropped two matches to the school earlier in the season, the Harvard players were eager for revenge.

They got it in the form of a 12-4 victory over the local rivals.

The Crimson seconded this win with a 11-3 victory over Fordham yesterday.

"The other two games basically made up for everything this weekend," Chen said. "We came out really strong. We had played B.C. earlier in the season and knew we could beat them. After that, Fordham was just the icing on the cake. It was the last game of the season, and a great way to end."

Indeed, Harvard demonstrated this weekend that the team has made significant gains in strength and ability throughout the season, culminating in its performance in the two season-closing wins.

"During the last three weeks our play has really improved," Benson said. "I think we played as well this weekend as we've played all year. No one quit, no one gave up the whole season. Our only disappointment was losing to Brown--I really think we outplayed them."

"The whole weekend everyone played tough and very strong," Chen said. "It just all came together."

The weekend also witnessed the reemergence of junior All-American Mike Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who was forced to miss the latter part of the season due to injury, tallied two goals in the Brown game and scored against both B.C. and Fordham as well.

All three contests, however, were perhaps anchored by the presence of Chen.

"Ed played great," Benson said. "Against Fordham he had 11 blocks in just one half. He is definitely about more than just making saves. He really was the quarterback for our defense this weekend, and one of the main reasons why our opponent's scores were kept so low."

Regrettably, though emerging from the weekend with two strong wins and only one loss, the Harvard men's water polo team has come to the end of its season.

Throughout the season, the Crimson battled intermittent scoring woes and struggled to provide a unified team strategy. Conversely, it demonstrated great athleticism and tremendous potential.

It was, therefore, a proud ending for a team that perhaps showed its true colors a little too late.