The Harvard men's water polo team lost its first seven games of the 1986 season, but those defeats had been anticipated.

The Crimson was a comparatively young team, comprised of only one senior and several freshmen, and the players needed time and practice to grow accustomed to one anothers' styles.

Since the 0-7 start, the team has accumulated seven victories, but has also lost six times. It has yet to start winning consistently and take its place as "one of the elite teams in the East" as it had hoped to do.

This past weekend's tournament at Brown was indicative of the troubles Harvard has been having. It beat two considerably weaker opponents, lost to a team it should have defeated, and was crushed by a truly dominating Brown squad.

The victories were 16-4 and 4-2 over MIT and Boston College, while the defeats included a tough 6-5 loss to UMass and an 18-2 humiliation to the Bruins.

The UMass contest was especially upsetting because the Crimson had beaten the Minutemen by an identical score earlier in the season. And the Brown match marked Harvard's third straight unsuccessful effort to knock off the nationally-ranked tourney hosts.

"It was a disappointing weekend," junior Pete Kaiser said.

"We do well in practice," says Tri-Captain Fred Scherrer, "but we just don't do it in the games. We're scared to make mistakes."

Fellow Tri-Captain Ben Elizondo concurred: "We have a lot of good points. We're fired up and working hard, but we're just not consistent."

"It just takes a little bit of time with a new team," Elizondo added, echoing a theme the Crimson has talked about throughout the season.

Next weekend, the Crimson hosts the Ivy League Championship tournament, a contest it has a good shot at winning--mainly because Brown's "A" team will be in California preparing for the NCAA tournament.

Harvard will also enjoy the home pool advantage this weekend. "We seem to do really well at our pool," said Elizondo. "We need that crowd support to get us going."

Scherrer believes that the squad's performance in its practices as opposed to its showing in actual competition serves as "a marker for how we'll do in the end of the season."

THE NOTEBOOK:The Crimson enters its "end of the season" tomorrow night at Blodgett against Notre Dame. The Crimson lost 11-10 to the Fighting Irish last year....Elizondo pulled a groin muscle in the first game on Friday night and had to sit out the next three contests. He hopes to be back in action tomorrow so he can face his brother, who is a freshman on the N.D. squad....The Harvard "B" team played for most of the B.C. game.