Facial expressions can tell a lot
Dave Fasi, co-captain of the Harvard water polo team, grins often during plays--not typical behavior for players in this unusually grueling sport. And it was disconcerting to at least a few of his opponents in this weekend's first round of the New England championships, held at Blodgett Pool.
The Yale aquamen, watching from the stands as Fasi and his teammates annihilated UMass Saturday morning, kept exclaiming. "Look at Fasi!" and "What the hell is he grinning about?"
In fact, he had much to grin about, as the Crimson went on to win four of its five games.
David Todhunter, the Brown water polo team's 6-ft., 5-in. scoring machine, rarely smiles in the water. Instead, with Olympian disdain, he calmly crushed all opposition--including Harvard--leading the Bruins in scoring with nine goals as they swept their five games at Blodgett.
Todhunter did show emotion in one play involving a loose ball in front of the MIT goal during the Bruins' 18-1 destruction of the Engineers. Rather than pounce on the ball himself, he let the Tech goalie think he could reach it first. Then he grabbed the ball with one of his enormous limbs and casually hooked it over the out-of-position goalie's arms.
The shot hit the crossbar instead of going in the goal; Todhunter chuckled, shrugged his shoulders, and swam back to play defense.
That kind of casual confidence characterized the Brown squad as it lengthened its New England winning streak to 67 and led second-place Harvard by a game halfway through the preliminary action in the regional championships UMass and MIT tied for third, while Yale placed fifth and Columbia went winless.
The contest that put the Bruins on top was a 14-5 Saturday night root of the Crimson last year. Harvard came within three goals of Brown in one game, but this weekend seven Brown goals in the first 10 minutes dashed any hopes of keeping it close.
Businesslike
"They were legitimately a 14-5 team over us in that game," admitted Crimson Coach Steve Pike. "We played even with Brown in sports. We would play them even for three or four minutes in each [seven-minute] period, then get blown out for two or three minutes."
When the Bruins set up on offense, they're extremely patient, waiting for the best shot and using their 35 seconds on the shot clock to the fullest.
But just as often, they look like the Boston Celtics in the pool, simply out swimming their opponents when switching from defense to offense. Repeatedly against Harvard. Bruin goalie Lars Enstrom would find a teammate open for a pass close to the Crimson goal.
Identity Crisis
But when the Rhode Islanders were out of the water, the pool was all Harvard's. With Co-Captain Fasi and freshman David Chao directing the offense in the hole (the area in front of the goal, similar to the slot in ice hockey), junior Steve Munatones shoveling in 16 goals, and goalie Brian Graham stopping roughly hall of opponents' shots, the Crimson ran up some lopsided scores. It clobbered UMass, 17-3, in the tourney opener, downed Columbia, 18-6, and MIT, 18-8, and despite some defensive lapses outlasted the EIts 18-12.
The next stage of the tournament takes place in two weeks, when the same six teams meet in another round robin event at Brown
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