Water Polo Drops Three at Invite; Young Bench Tested in Annapolis

It hasn't exactly been an ideal season for the Harvard men's water polo team (4-5, 3-1 EWPA). Not only do the losses keep piling up game after game, but even the victories have been marred by lackluster play.

As if going back to the drawing board, Harvard experimented with its bench and saw a wide spectrum of competition this weekend at the Navy Invitational.

Harvard 12, Michigan 11; Harvard 1, Canadian East 24

In the first of the two-day event, Harvard suited up against the 1996 National Club Champion, Michigan. In a tightly fought match, the Crimson stormed out in front of the Wolverines in the early going and held on for the 12-11 victory.

Controlling play and leading the charge for Harvard was junior 2-meter man Mike Zimmerman who tallied eight goals in the contest. With that victory, Harvard improved its overall record to 4-3, temporarily bringing it above the .500 mark.

Thankfully for the Harvard players, the next challenge of the day was merely exhibition. Taking on the Canadian East team, the Crimson could manage only one goal in a 24-1 defeat. Although the loss was statistically colossal, the Crimson was facing a Canadian squad which included five members of the Canadian national team.

"I would liken it to Harvard football playing against Nebraska," said Coach Don Benson '88. "They were strong and physical. It was a game where we had to pick our victories and triumphs not in terms of score, but by what we tried to accomplish."

Harvard 8, Navy 18; Harvard 5, Princeton 11

After jumping out of the pool following the Canadian East nightmare, the Harvard players were temporarily thankful to switch gears back to the United States water polo program to face Navy and Princeton on the final day of competition.

They would soon learn, however, that no matter what the nationalities, the results would be no better.

Against Navy, although Harvard trailed throughout, it was only down 5-3 after one period. With 1:59 left in the first half, Harvard suffered a series of mental lapses that allowed Navy to compile four goals in that small time frame.

"We made terrible passes and we didn't protect the ball," said Benson. "They are fast and they made us pay."

Unable to rebound from that sudden onslaught and despite a four-goal performance by Zimmerman, the Crimson could not muster enough firepower in the final 14 minutes to overcome the strong Navy squad.

Throughout the entire weekend, however, Harvard was not playing at fullstrength. Not only was junior driver Chris Tilgham unable to make the tournament due to personal reasons, but freshman Jeremy Katz injured his shoulder on Saturday and was forced to sit out both of yesterday's games. Thus Harvard was forced to use the Navy Invitational as a testing ground for its young bench.

"We had to play a lot of our freshmen, many of whom are unseasoned" Benson said. "On a positive note our bench is getting stronger."

Perhaps as a result, the final game against Princeton could only be seen as a positive for the struggling Harvard crew.

For the majority of the game, the Crimson played the Tigers even and had it not been for yet another two minute collapse, the outcome would have been entirely different.

This time the lapse occurred immediately following the halftime break as Harvard's nightmare came in the form of the third quarter. In a matter of two minutes, Princeton's measly 4-3 lead turned into a commanding, and what proved to be invincible 8-3 lead. At that point, the Tigers simply cruised through the remaining 12 minutes for a 11-5 victory.

"What has really hurt us is that we are really careless with the ball," Benson said. "But another positive is that we diversified our scoring."

Indeed, for in that final contest, Zimmerman, captain Andy Davis, sophomore Dror Bar-Ziv as well as freshmen Ron Romero and Grant Garrigues all found the back of the net.

So after a weekend in Annapolis which left much to be desired in the minds of the Harvard players, the East-in the form of games against MIT on Tuesday, Umass on Friday and B.C. on Saturday-will be a site for sore eyes.