Stacey Moran is probably the toughest 5-ft., 6 1/2-in. water polo player you would ever want to meet.

The Kirkland House junior has overcome nagging injuries to become one of the Crimson's leading scorers this year.

As a seven-year-old living in New City, N.Y., she began swimming on local AAU teams and kept with it for a while. "I had the same coach until I was 17, then I stopped swimming for two years, then I started swimming in college," Moran says.

Moran originally wanted to apply to Georgetown. But if it wasn't for a request from a family member, she might have never applied to Harvard.

"My grandfather was really sick in my junior year [of high school] and he died that year," Moran says. "He said, `Just apply to Harvard, and you'll get in, and you'll go there.' I applied here just for him, because he asked me to. I never thought about it again."

But she got accepted, and soon packed her bags for Cambridge.

"It appealed to me as a whole, the ambiance of Harvard," Moran says. "I loved it, I thought it was beautiful."

Moran was on the swim team her freshman year, swimming sprint freestyle races. She also played some water polo when swimming season ended. Moran had a slight advantage as a Harvard freshman because her AAU swim team used to play some water polo.

"I played maybe three games in my life--but with no rules," Moran says. "It was different. There was no `ball under', no rules at all. You just had to get the ball in the goal."

The injury bug plagued her early in her Harvard athletic career. She was out for a time with a broken nose suffered in the national women's water polo tournament in 1986, and missed the entire 1987 season due to major abdominal surgery.

"It killed me not to be able to play," Moran says. "I tried a couple of times, but it was just too much of a chance."

Coming back from the surgery was especially hard, because she couldn't get much exercise and conditioning at all. So the Folklore and Mythology pre-med decided to exercise her mind in Europe.

"I took this last semester off and went to Ireland," Moran says. "It was so much fun. I met up with Tara [Gustilo] in Spain."

And now, she's back, and better than ever. She is one of Harvard's fiercest drivers and very efficient at putting the ball away.

"I love to shoot," Moran says. "But a lot of times when I drive, I shoot. It's a great feeling to score."