Harvard's undefented water polo team successfully defended its New England crown last weekend but this weekend brings the NCAA Eastern Regionals and competition which may do more than challenge the Crimson's unbeaten string of 35.

Harvard entered the New England Tournament coming off a close 11-9 with over M.I.T. in the championship game of the Greater Boston Tournament.

In the first match of the four-team round robin tournament, Harvard outgunned Tufts, 16-4 Saturday afternoon, the Crimson demolished Northeastern, 13-4 in a game marked by fine defensive play on the part of Harvard.

M.I.T. also had beaten Northeastern and Tufts, setting up a showdown on Saturday night between the Engineers and the Crimson. M.I.T. was looking for revenge after losing two extremely close and well-played games to Harvard.

The Engineers (boasted, a home pool advantage, considerably more pool time practice and a coach. Harvard, lacking the advantage of a coach, had been working to coordinate the team's offense and defense after the narrow victories over the Engineers.

Freshman

The showdown turned out to be no contest as Harvard, paced by senior Tom McGill's five goals and freshman Peter Hersch's exceptional defensive effort, coasted past the Engineers, 11-4.

The ease with which the Crimson handled M.I.T. seemed to be due to Harvard's ability to control the ball and make their shots count. McGill led the Crimson in scoring throughout the tournament with 19 goals. Freshman Peter Kellogg followed closely McGill, netting 14 goals in the three games.

This weekend Harvard will play in the NCAA Eastern Regionals of the National Championship at Cornell. Five teams, including the Crimson, are entered in the Saturday and Sunday round robin competition. The others include Cornell, Army, Bucknell and Yale.

Harvard has not played any of the other competitors this season. However, Yale, the defending champion, has been disqualified by the NCAA from national championship competition because of a basketball dispute, and will be competing on an exhibition basis.

Cornell looms as the favorite in the competition, which marks the first time Harvard has competed in the NCAA Championship. In the past, the Crimson has not competed in the Fall. Harvard will have to drop three of its graduate students for this college level competition.