Water Polo Woes Keep Keeping On

The Harvard men's water polo team traveled to Princeton this weekend for the North-South Invitational tournament, where it was slated for four matches against Massachusetts (UMass), St. Francis, Richmond and the home-town Tigers. Lack of scoring in the early periods was a common problem for the Crimson (4-12), who dropped all four matches in succession.

The first game against UMass--one of the top teams on the east coast--started off evenly, but the Minutemen slowly pulled ahead on second chance opportunities and six-on-five penalty situations to cruise to a 13-4 win.

"The score definitely should have been closer," said captain Mike Zimmerman.

In the second game against St. Francis, sophomore goalie Josh Bliesath recorded a solid eight saves, but the offense failed to do its part. The Crimson was only two for eight in man-up situations, and the 11-8 final score reflected this shortcoming.

Zimmerman did score four goals on six shots, but the loss of two leading scorers due to major penalties--sophomore Jeremy Katz and freshman Mike Crosby--weakened Harvard's offensive artillery.

Crosby majored after committing three personal fouls, and Katz argued with a referee about a controversial whistle.

In the late game on Saturday, the Crimson jumped in against Richmond and was promptly decimated in the first period. Richmond outscored Harvard 11-1 through the half.

"It was insane," Zimmerman said. "They were making everything; the had three two-pointers, and they made every shot they took."

In the latter three periods, Harvard rallied, and it erased its scoring woes, out-pointing Richmond, 9-4. Zimmerman recorded a spectacular six goals on 13 shots, and freshman teammate Sean Cheng added three goals.

"We turned it around, but we still came up short," Zimmerman said.

Harvard concluded its Saturday matches with the 15-10 loss to the Spiders.

Yesterday the team had its fourth match against the hometown Tigers. Princeton started off quickly with a three-point lead, and it added fast-break goals in six-on-five penalty situations. Harvard answered with three goals by Zimmerman and two by Katz, as well as a goal each from senior Tom Chalberg, junior Grant Garrigues and Cheng, but again the Crimson came up short with a final score of 14-10.

"Our major failing was a lack of defense and communication. They took advantage of us in penalty situations, but we matched them solidly during even play," said Zimmerman of the Princeton game.

Harvard needs to win three of its next four games, all league matches, to move on to the Northern divisional playoffs.

"We still have half a season left," Zimmerman said. "Our problems are certainly fixable."