M. Water Polo Drops to UMass, Wins Two

This past weekends Harvard Mens water polo contests were a further testament to this teams methodical ascension to prominence on the national polo stage. Though the 17th ranked Crimson met a familiar roadblock in the 13th ranked Minutemen of UMass, Harvard notched two convincing victories over league foes, Boston College and MIT.

In Saturdays early action at MIT, the Crimson quickly dismantled the grossly overmatched Eagles and Engineers to the tune of 15-9 and 13-3 trouncings, respectively.

Games against MIT and B.C. used to be hard fought affairs, junior driver Istvan Zollei said, Saturday we were able to use all our players with victory an all but foregone conclusion.

These early games witnessed opportunities for many on the roster to shine with upwards of ten different Harvard players collecting goals.

Though consideration was given to these earlier matches, the night game with UMass at Blodgett Pool was the marquee event.

The game marked the second showdown of the two East Coast powers in this young season . UMass eked out a triple-overtime, sudden death victory over the Crimson at home on Sept. 8.

In the night game a real sense of confidence pervaded the water and stands at Blodgett. Between the firm resiliency of the men in the pool and the markedly unusual throngs of cheering fans lining the bleachers, the stage was set for, if nothing else, a lively 28 minutes of action.

As fate would have it, such was the case.

Down 2-1 at the halftime intermission, the Crimson maintained a strong defense while going on to provide some fruitful offensive maneuvers.

Our defense kept us close, Zollei said. In past years weve never been close to UMass. Now we know we can beat them.

Although these offensive onslaughts proved too few, as the Crimson fell to the highly touted Minutemen, the Crimson definitely had made yet another bold statement. After battling UMass to the wire two weeks ago, falling 11-10 in an offense-dominated game, the Crimsons recent dedication to bolstering the defense clearly paid off.

The goalkeeping combination of senior Gresham Bayne and junior Paul Tselentis played a large role in the Crimsons recent defensive resurgence.

Its simply awesome what Gresh and Paul are doing for us, Zollei said. Its such a good feeling just knowing theyll stop everything that gets behind us. Theyre the best in the East. No question.

Beyond shining performances from their goalkeepers, the Harvard team has made good on Head Coach Jim Floerchingers commitment to a defense-heavy style of play.

Were focusing on the defensive side of our game now, and soon well institute more emphasis on offense, said senior 2-meter Sean Cheng. Once we get both facets of our game to come together well beat everybody. Zollei said.

Add to the aforementioned satisfying results an encouraging return to action from junior driver and verteran starter Theo Ludwick and excellent frosh contributions, it appears as though this Crimson team will be a force to be reckoned with by seasons end, if not sooner.