W. Water Polo Drowns Brown, 22-3

P>The Harvard women's water polo team (5-2, 1-0 Ivy) traveled to Brown (1-6, 0-1 Ivy) Wednesday night to begin its quest for an undefeated Ivy League record.

And it had no trouble at all.

The Crimson trounced the Bears by an overwhelming 22-3 margin.

"It was a great match all-around," said captain Kit Hodge. "Everything worked perfectly, and all the parts came together."

Indeed, Harvard was in control for the entire match. The sophomore dynamic duo Natasho Magnuson and Jesse Gunderson was too much the Bear defense to handle.

"We really came together on our set offense," Gunderson said. "We have been having some problems with that recently, as a result of weaker competition."

In addition to dealing with weaker opponents, Harvard has also been faced with inferior playing facilities. Both MIT, the site of the Crimson's tournament this past weekend, and Brown have smaller pools.

"We felt a little clogged in our play," Gunderson said. "But overall, it was a very positive game. Our defense was strong and shut them out for most of the game."

In fact, perhaps the most contested moment of the game occurred with freshman goalie Danielle McCarthy towards the end of the second quarter. She arm-wrestled the ball out of the hands of a Brown offender, who attacked her.

Other than that, there was no competition.

Harvard now looks to an alumni game this Saturday afternoon at Blodgett Poll.

"Basically, we are looking to outreact and outscore our coach," Gunderson said.

After that friendly rivalry, the next major contest will be UMass next Friday night. UMass has been ranked high consistently in national polls, and although having fallen in recent weeks, UMass remains a formidable challenge for the Crimson. A victory next Friday night would put Harvard near the top of collegiate East Coast water polo.

Harvard's long-term goal for season is to reach Nationals. But, in the more immediate future, it looks to conquer its rivals UMass and Princeton.

"We really want to beat UMass," Hodge said. "It's really just a matter of getting our heads completely focused and concentrating on communication."