It was supposed to be just another game in the Harvard rugby club's whirlwind roll through its Metro League competition.

The Crimson had already defeated Tufts and Boston College by the unfathomable margins of 68-0 and 33-0, respectively. Northeastern was supposed to be the next victim.

But N.U. didn't roll over in the face of its biggest league competition. Northeastern ran its advantage to 13-0 before the Crimson got in the game--and then it was too late to be playing catch-up ball. Despite a strong late-game surge, Harvard fell, 13-12, to N.U. Saturday at Magazine Beach in Boston. The loss should hurt the Crimson's regional standing heading into the New England Champion-ships early next month.

"We're still trying to figure this out," Harvard Captain John Green-berg said. "We were overconfident and we certainly didn't play as well as we did last week or the week before."

Northeastern (3-0-1 Metro League) recorded two trys at the end of the first half, and added a penalty kick just after halftime to give it a 13-0 edge. To add to Harvard's problems, lock Will Rava was ejected for a high tackle early in the second half, leaving the Crimson (3-1 Metro, 5-3 overall) a player short on the field.

"Anytime you lose a player, it wears the team down," Greenberg said. "We were playing a man down for most of the second half."

Scott Hilinksi and Bill Kessler scored trys for the Crimson in the closing minutes of the game, and senior Chris Crisera handled both conversions to pull Harvard within a point of the Huskies.

The Crimson has a two-game slate this weekend, traveling to Amherst Saturday and hosting George Mason Sunday at Soldiers Field.

Meanwhile, the Harvard "B" team racked up its fourth big win in a row, trouncing N.U.'s "B" squad, 52-0.

The Harvard men's water polo team did something this weekend that it has never done before: win two games at the Eastern Tournament.

It really doesn't matter where the Crimson, the nation's 19th-ranked team. finished in the eight-team tournament lield at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. (Harvard, which entered as the tournament's fourth seed, placed fifth).

It really doesn't matter that in its first game, the Crimson squandered a 5-2 lead against fifth-seeded Army. (Harvard fell to the Cadets, 11-6).

What mattered was that the Crimson (7-9 overall) won two games. That made all the difference.

"This was a very positive weekend," Captain Andy Freed said.

Okay, so it didn't start out that well against the troops from West Point. The Cadets went on a 9-1 run in the second half to capture the victory.