In his first year as a member of the Harvard men's water polo team, Co-Captain Andy Freed was on a Crimson squad that placed eighth at the Eastern Championships. This same team lost to Navy, 22-0.

Three years later, Freed, now a senior, has seen the Crimson program improve immensely. This weekend at the 1989 Eastern Championships in Annapolis, Md., Harvard finished in fourth place--the best finish by any Crimson squad. And yesterday in the game for third-place, Harvard dropped a tough 11-9 decision to the host Midshipmen.

Harvard began the eight-tournament with a 10-6 victory over Iona. Eric Bentley, Todd Forman and John Marshall all collected hat tricks in the victory against the Gaels.

Then came favored Arkansas-Little Rock, a squad compromised mostly of foreign players (In fact, Arkansas has only one American member on its team). The Crimson played Arkansas even early in the game and battled to a 2-2 late in the first half.

"That was the best half we played all year," Freed said.

But Arkansas scored two quick goals before intermission and collected three other goals in the third period to take a 7-3 lead. By then, it was no contest.

"We just couldn't stay with them in the second half," Co-Captain Nick Branca said.

In the Navy game, sophomore Peter Richards scored four goals, but Harvard couldn't pull away from the Midshipmen.

Arkansas and Brown, the finalists in the tournament, advance to the national championships, held this year in Indianapolis.

Best Year

As for the Crimson, the season is over. But certainly not forgotten.

"This was the best year in the history of Harvard water polo by far," Freed said.

For the first time ever, the Crimson was consistently ranked in the top 20 and became one of the top teams in the East. With only Freed, Branca and Bentley graduating, the squad will be intact for next season.