The Boston College men's water polo team bus blew a tire on the way to Harvard last night.

The Eagles probably wished the tire problem had forced them to forfeit the match--because when they finally arrived at Blodgett Pool, they suffered a 13-5 destruction at the hands of an anxious, victory-starved Crimson squad.

Last night's triumph was Harvard's first this season in seven tries, and, as Crimson Coach Chris Hafferty said, "It was nice to get a win under our belts."

The conquest of the Eagles seemed assured by the end of the first quarter, at which point Harvard held a 4-0 advantage.

The closest BC had come to scoring off starting goalie Don Benson was a shot that went in the net, but was disallowed when the referee--after "reviewing the reverse-angle instant replay," a fan joked--decided a foul had been committed on the play.

The Crimson squad then built up an insurmountable 8-0 lead with 2:49 to play in the second period, and coasted to an eight-goal victory the rest of the way.

"We played pretty well," Tri-Captain Bill Wolff said. He added that the squad displayed many skills--such as a pressing defense--which "we were supposed to have learned from the last tournament." Wolff was alluding to the Crimson's matches against three of the top-ranked teams in the country last weekend at Brown.

Hafferty noted that one of Harvard's bright points last night was the number of counterattacking (fast break) goals it scored: "We worked hard on that, and it paid off," he said.

Hafferty also cited the performances of Joe Kaufman, Wade Stokes, Ben Elizondo and John Beber--who played goalie throughout the second half--as particularly encouraging.

Hat Trick

Tri-Captain Elizondo was one of three Harvard players to score three goals during the game. Kaufman was another, and his consecutive, unanswered shots in the second quarter helped ice the victory for the team.

Not to be outdone, Eric Bentley notched his hat trick with three straight Harvard goals in the second and third periods.

With the game's outcome no longer in doubt, Hafferty substituted players freely. "It was a good opportunity for us to let everybody on the bench play, and for me to see different people in different combinations," he noted.

The Crimson next sees action Friday night and Saturday morning as it hosts a New England League Tournament at Blodgett. "We still have a lot of work to do," Wolff said.

When asked if last weekend's humiliating defeats had paid off yet, Hafferty said that "it's hard to say we improved, but we'll know after this weekend."

Elizondo was more enthusiastic. "We're on our way up," he said. "We finally started to play our game--our offense and our defense. And our young players looked great."