W. Water Polo Takes Fourth at Easterns

The Harvard women's water polo team played its best polo of the season this weekend when it hosted the Eastern Championships at Blodgett Pool.

But, in the end, the Crimson fell just short of its goal of finishing in the top three and qualifying for Nationals.

A 4-2 loss to Princeton on Sunday morning sealed a fourth-place finish, and, consequently, the end of the season for the Crimson.

But it was not a result of a lack of heart. The team gave more than a 100-percent effort. But it just couldn't get any breaks.

"I am really proud of our team," sophomore Natasha Magnuson said. "We played our best, and that's all you can ask for. But it was definitely disappointing to lose."

The weekend began on Friday night with a 14-3 trouncing of Brown.

The real competition began on Saturday morning when Harvard faced Villanova. After jumping out to an 8-3 lead, Harvard relaxed a little and took out some of its starters. Villanova went on a 4-0 run, and suddenly Harvard found itself in a frightening position--only ahead by one goal with a minute remaining.

Then, junior Leslie Bennett was ejected from the game, so Villanova had a one-man advantage for the rest of the contest.

A Harvard player on the perimeter blocked a pass, and the Crimson kept possession for the remainder of the game. Harvard hung on to preserve the 8-7 victory.

After several hours rest, the Crimson returned to the pool to take on the Maryland Terrapins. On April 10, Harvard lost to Maryland 12-2. This time, the result, although still a defeat, was much closer.

Harvard shocked Maryland by jumping out to an early two-goal advantage. However, with one minute remaining, the Terrapins held an 8-7 advantage. Magnuson fired a shot into the net to send the game into overtime.

The two teams traded goals in the first two overtime periods, sending the game into sudden death.

With a Maryland goal, the game was over. But Harvard was not discouraged.

"It didn't get us down," Magnuson said. We were excited about how we played, and it boded well for the night game. We were psyched up and ready to play another game immediately."

Saturday night was a pivotal match for the Crimson. A victory would send them to Davis, Calif., on May 7th for the National Championships. The opponent was Eastern powerhouse UMass, who Harvard had lost to three times previously this season. Most recently, UMass defeated Harvard 12-5 last weekend.

Despite the 9:40 billing, the Harvard stadium was packed. The band even showed up.

"This was a peak weekend for us," sophomore Jesse Gunderson said. "Each game we came out stronger, culminating in the game against UMass."

Fired up by the attendance and importance of the game, Harvard jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind goals from junior Leslie Bennett, who had a particularly strong showing all weekend.

UMass put two in the net to catch up, and then the two teams traded goals. With the score at 4-3 toward the closing of the fourth quarter, Harvard scored to even it at four apiece, and the two teams headed into overtime for the first time this season.

"It was awesome," Magnuson said. "All season we had known we could play with them, but hadn't been able to prove it. [Saturday night]we had the momentum and were actually doing it."

Two minutes into overtime, Harvard pushed ahead with a goal. But UMass countered immediately with a goal of its own to bring the first three-minute overtime period to a close.

In the second overtime period, UMass lobbed a ball into the goal with what proved to be the difference for the game.

"We were happy with our performance, even if it was extremely frustrating to lose the second game of the day by such a small margin," Gunderson said. "It is extremely hard to maintain the intensity and push throughout two overtime games, but we did it."

As the buzzer sounded, the tired Harvard players realized that there was only one remaining shot to go to Nationals: they had to beat Princeton in the third-place game on Sunday morning.

"It was so close, and easily could have gone either way," Magnuson said. "We were crushed, but also positive about the next day."

On Sunday, it just wasn't to be. The first three quarters were all Princeton on the scoreboard, as the Tigers pushed ahead 3-0. After adding another goal in the fourth, Princeton had an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

"Princeton just knew our weaknesses and were maximizing on them," Magnuson said.

With a minute remaining, the Crimson turned up the heat, scoring two goals. But it was too little too late.

"We just didn't adapt to what they were doing," Gunderson said. "We also knew there was so much riding on the game."

With this defeat, Harvard's season came to an abrupt end, but the players have no reason to hang their heads. Not only did they play their best polo of the year, but they came within a single goal of the top two finishers.

With only one graduating senior-- Becky Gaines--Harvard looks forward to a very promising 1999-2000 season.

"Despite the losses, the weekend was a good note to end on," Gunderson said. "We are proud of our performance."