The Harvard men's water polo team warded off a last-minute surge by Notre Dame to grab an 11-10 victory yesterday at Blodgett Pool.

The Crimson had earlier staged a comeback of its own, erasing an early three-goal deficit and eventually taking the lead for good in the third period.

For the Fighting Irish, yesterday's contest was the key one in a five-game eastern swing--and through much of the first half, the visitors kept Harvard at bay.

Notre Dame Captain Mike Roberts--the brother of Crimson swimmer Courtney Roberts '84--popped three goals past Harvard netminder Rod Phares in the first quarter to pace his squad to a 5-3 lead.

However, Rob Strauss, Fred Scherrer and Bill Wolff tallied for the Crimson in the second period to knot the halftime score at 6-6.

After the Fighting Irish scored the initial goal in the third quarter, Harvard's defense clamped down. For 11 minutes, the aquadudes shut out the visitors--while running up a string of five tallies of their own.

Ben Elizondo scored what turned out to be the game-winner with 3:27 remaining on the clock, twirling around to spin the ball past Notre Dame goalie Matt Brown.

The Irish gave the Crimson a bit of a scare in the final minutes, tossing in three quick goals to cut Harvard's lead to one--and then stealing the ball with just seconds left.

But Phares blocked Notre Dame's shot at the buzzer, to preserve the victory