Polomen Prepared To Sink Brown

Think what would happen if Yale beat Harvard in football 13 out of the last 14 years.

Yuck.

Well, that's how the Harvard men's water polo team feels. Since it became a varsity sport in 1981, Harvard has beaten rival Brown only once. To make matters worse, the teams face one another usually two to three times each season, meaning that the Bears have chalked up a lot of wins over the Crimson.

Many of those Harvard teams have been pretty good-Harvard usually posts a record above .500. Still, the Big Brown Machine keeps on chugging.

1995 may be different. Head coach Don Benson '88 has all but one of his starters back, and he thinks that the Crimson will finally get the monkey off its back.

"Honestly, I think we've got the talent to beat Brown," Benson said. "It will be a big upset if we don't beat them once this year."

For Benson to make such predictions, he had better have good reasons. He does.

While it is true that Harvard lost driver Jose Busquets '95, who led the 1994 team with 77 goals and five two-pointers, sophomore Andy Davis--a 48.3 shooting percentage as a freshman--should do well in his place. And this year's crop of freshmen include Michael Zimmerman, the brother of Jeff Zimmerman '94, one of Harvard's all-time best players.

The younger Zimmerman plays the same position his brother did, the two-meter spot. Like a center in basketball, the two-meter man serves as a pivot for the offense, so the position requires a big, strong guy. Zimmerman fits the mold.

"At the two-meter position last year we really only had one person, Julian Alexander," Benson said. "It's a position that's really physical--you have to be big and strong and not rely so much on quickness and speed."

Senior Alex Kim had to fill in for Alexander sometimes at two-meter last year, a spot that Kim was not really suited for. With the arrival of Zimmerman, however, Kim (45 goals) will be able to move further outside.

Harvard's goalkeeping is another strong spot. Sophomore Ed Chen won the starting goaltender spot last fall and posted a 51.6 save percentage and a 9.72 goals-against average. With a season's experience under his belt, he will look to improve upon both those totals.

Last year, Benson challenged his team to place seventh at the Eastern Championships--the winner of which goes on to the four-team National Championships--and the Crimson completed the mission, finishing in that exact spot.

This year, he wants to move up to third at Easterns. Doing so would almost certainly mean upending Brown or a team of that caliber, which is a battle that Harvard is not afraid of.

"We're [often] unsure of our ability to beat Brown," Benson said. "But we really strongly believe now that we can beat them."

MEN'S WATER POLO

Record: 12-7

Easterns: Seventh

Coach: Don Benson '88

Captains: Julian Alexander '96, Chip Hellar '96

Key Returnees: Julian Alex Kim '96, Ed Chen '98

New Face: Michael Zimmerman '99

Key Loss: Jose Busquets '95