Men's Water Polo Tumbles for Sixth Straight Time

The downward spiral continues for the Harvard men's water polo squad as it dropped its sixth consecutive game last night at Blodgett Pool. This time it was Boston College who did the damage.

Junior All-American Mike Zimmerman remains bench-bound after spraining ligaments in his right thumb one week ago against Massachusetts.

Zimmerman, who accumulated 30-percent of last year's total offense and already had a team leading 27 goals this year, seemed obviously frustrated as he cheered on his teammates and attempted to clap, despite the cast enveloping his hand.

Others were frustrated as well.

"Mike is the focal point of the offense," said Coach Don Benson '88. "Right now we are like a basketball team without its center."

"It's awful being on the bench," Zimmerman said.

According to team doctors, the injury sustained by Zimmerman will keep the 2-meter man out of action for at least four weeks.

During last night's game, that time span must have seemed painfully longer as Zimmerman had to watch his teammates fall behind quickly in the first quarter.

In that quarter alone, the Crimson allowed the Eagles seven goals and only acquired one of its own.

"Our play was completely inexcusable with the caliber of the players that were out there in the pool," Zimmerman said. "It was a nightmare for us."

The disastrous first quarter did not deter Harvard from fighting for survival throughout the remainder of the contest.

"We refused to quit," Benson said. "During the third quarter and at the beginning of the fourth we started to turn it around."

Harvard did have a run of four consecutive goals during that time, as it attempted to close the nine-goal gap that confronted the players.

Junior Tom Chalberg led the offensive attack with two straight goals in that span, but unfortunately those tallies proved to be the final points for the Crimson.

While the offense was beginning to pick up, the defense continued to be strong. Senior goalie Ed Chen added to his season total of 77 blocks with several more crowd pleasing saves throughout the second half.

The rally ended, however, as an Eagle broke through the Crimson defense and scored to secure the game with three minutes remaining.

The team travels to Princeton today to oppose four powerful southern division teams. Harvard's weekend will include games against Princeton, Navy, George Washington and Bucknell. After six straight losses, this tournament could prove to be a turning point in the Crimson's season.

"We will be playing some of the top teams in the southern division," Benson said. "We definitely have our work cut out for us. It's not going to be easy to get a victory, but I believe that we are fully capable of doing it."

The squad must perform up to its potential if the season is to continue into the post season. That crucial determiner will occur at the end of this month in the form of the Eastern Qualifying Tournament. In order to continue on to the Eastern Championships, Harvard would have to win its first qualifying match. Only if that happens will Zimmerman be able to see any more play this year.