M. Water Polo Seeks First-Round Navy Upset

The Harvard men's water polo team will compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Eastern Championships at Brown University this weekend, hoping both to make and repeat history.

The No. 20 Crimson (22-9, 7-3 CWPA) will try to cap its most successful season in years by qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The National Championship will be held at Pepperdine University early in December.

Standing in the way of a trip to California is No. 13 Navy (21-10, 7-1), whom the Crimson will battle in a do-or-die opening game. The Midshipmen are the champions of the Southern Division, while Harvard is the lowest-seeded Northern Division entry in the tournament.

From the Crimson's standpoint, however, the first-round draw is more of a blessing than a curse. They face a Navy team they have already beaten this year.

Six weeks ago, Harvard shocked the perennial Eastern power with a dramatic 6-5 victory at the Princeton Invitational. Junior 2-meter Sean Cheng had three goals in that game, including the game-winner with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter.

Navy narrowly squeaked by No. 16 Princeton to win the Southern Division and a date with Harvard.

The Crimson had struggled against the Tigers this year, so the Navy matchup seems more favorable to the Crimson cause.

"They have a long history," Harvard Coach Jim Floerchinger said of the Midshipmen. "They've been around for a while, and will try to prove that our win was an aberration. We'll try to show that it wasn't."

Besides having a storied tradition on their side, the Midshipmen also have an offensive force in its captain, Sean Foster. The 2-meter man has scored at will on the inside, amassing 66 goals in 31 games.

Denying Foster the ball will be key to Harvard's chances of duplicating the October upset.

"We want to prevent him from getting the ball often," Floerchinger said. "What we want to do overall is make them work differently, and make them have to do things they don't do well."

Successfully taking Foster out of the flow will force the Midshipmen to rely on outside shooting, a relatively weak aspect of their otherwise solid all-around game. Additionally, Harvard may implement a pressing defense in order to slow the play down to a pace less favorable to the Navy offense.

Harvard has shown that it can effectively stop Navy from scoring. The Crimson limited the Midshipmen to 5-for-26 shooting in their previous encounter.

If the defense can duplicate that feat, Harvard will likely advance to the second round of the winner's bracket.

"I think are chances are great," Floerchinger said. "We're very prepared, and we know we have the tools to win."

If Harvard beats Navy in the first round, it will play the winner of the UMass-Bucknell first round match. UMass (21-11, 11-3) is heavily favored against the unranked Bisons, and would be against the Crimson as well.

The Minutemen have compiled a 4-0 record against the Crimson this year, outscoring Harvard 49-21 and breezing to a 12-2 win two weeks ago at Northerns.

The key to stopping the Minutemen lies in controlling the game's pace. UMass thrives in transition. In its last game against the Crimson, UMass scored all of its goals on fast breaks and counterattacks.

Harvard's ability to keep the focus of the game in the halfcourt will probably mean the difference between another UMass blowout and a potential Harvard upset.

Sophomore netminder Paul Tselentis continues to recover from a seizure he suffered a week before Northerns. As a result, junior Gresham Bayne will be the only Crimson goalkeeper this weekend.

Bayne worked all four Northerns games. He racked up 12 saves against Brown and seven against Iona to help the Crimson pull out close qualifying contests.

If the Crimson manages to pull off both upsets on Saturday, it would advance to Sunday's first-place game and compete for an automatic bid to Nationals. Its possible opponents in the final include No. 11 St. Francis, No. 15 Queens College, and Princeton.