The Crimson water polo team this weekend took another step toward establishing itself as an Eastern power. In a four-team tournament in New Haven, Conn.--Brown, MIT, Yale and Harvard--the Crimson swam even with top-seeded Brown before bowing, 12-8. The aquamen then strafed Eastern rival Yale, 13-7.

At one point in the fourth quarter of the Brown game, Harvard trailed by just one point. It was the closest any Eastern squad had stayed to Brown, the top-ranked team in New England, all season.

"We're getting closer and closer to Brown," Harvard head coach Steve Pike said after the tourament. "I didn't expect this year to be the one where we turned the corner and became dominant in New England, but already the squad is looking to beat Brown."

No Substitutes Here

Brown, which used its B-squad to defeat MIT in its only other game in the tournament, was unable to substitute its second line against the Crimson.

"I think that says a lot about our team," Phil Atkinson, who scored a goal for Harvard in the game against the Bruins, said, adding, "We're finally beginning to work as a unit and are steadily improving," as Yale now knows.

The last time the Elis and the Crimson met, at last year's Eastern tournament, Yale destroyed Harvard, 22-3. But in the second game of this weekend's tourney, Harvard drowned the dog-paddlers on the strength of junior Houston Hall's five-goal performance.

Hall also led all Crimson scorers in the Brown game, recording a hat trick. Other scoring leaders in the two-game tourney were Rich Guerra and Phil Atkinson, each with three goals. David Fasi and Steven Munatones both tallied twice. Munatones also led the team in assists, registering three in the two contests.

The team will now prepare for the New England Championships Nov 8 and 9 at Blodgett Pool. The top two squads will advance from that tournament to the Eastern Championships later in the month.