A core of 12 seniors with four years of experience each. A bid at Nationals and the best record in the history of the Harvard women's water polo program (14-3).

No, it's not Harvard Coach Chris Hafferty dreaming, but memories of his 1988 Crimson squad, which is a tough act to follow.

After the graduation of 12 key seniors, 10 veterans remain, and most of the team's newcomers are totally inexperienced in the sport.

"None of the players have much experience because it's a sport that you don't play before college," Co-Captain Eileen Pratt said. "It's definitely going to be a building and reorganizing year just because of all the new people we have out for the team."

Despite their inexperience, some of the rookies are expected to be invaluable to the team's success this season.

After a sensational season with the women's swimming team, freshman Stacie Duncan is transfering her talents to the water polo team. Both Duncan and freshman Kaari Reierson are looking strong, according to Pratt.

In order to compensate for the lack of experience, the team has been scrimmaging more in practice.

"Scrimmaging pays off because we have a lot of inexperienced players who have never played a game or even seen one," Pratt said.

Fortunately for the Crimson, not all of last year's strongest players have graduated.

According to Hafferty, veterans Karen Flick, Mel Berger, Kate Ford and Kathy Kitayama are looking strong. Tara Gustillo is going to be relied on for the primary whole set, while Pratt and Co-Captain Stacy Moran should provide the needed experience in the field. The starting lineup has not been determined yet.

"We definitely don't have the experience of last year, but we still have a strong core from last year," Pratt said.

Harvard's primary rivals in women's water polo are Brown and MIT. Both rivals are expected to field strong teams this season.

Harvard will host their season-opener against Brown on March 21st in Blodgett Pool, and will host the MIT game April 4. The Crimson women are excited about their prospects this spring. If the team continues to progress at its present pace, then a repeat performance of last year's success is not impossible.

The team's progress will be measurable because it also plays Brown and MIT later in the season. If the Crimson players improve significantly by tournament time, a second or third-place finish at Easterns May 4 would qualify them for the nationals. Coach:  Chris Hafferty Captains:  Stacey Moran, Eileen Pratt Last Year:  (16-3, 4-0) Home Games:  Blodgett Pool The Schedule

March Tue, 21 BROWN  8:00 p.m.

April Tue, 4  MIT  8:00 p.m. Fri, 7-  HARVARD INVT'L  6:00 p.m. Sat, 8  (at Blodgett Pool)  11:00 a.m. Sat, 15-  at Brown Invitational  -- Sun, 16  (at Providence, R.I.)  -- Sat, 22-  at MIT Invitational  -- Sun, 23  (at Cambridge, Mass.)  --

May Thu, 4- at Easterns  -- Sat, 6  (at Bucknell)  -- Fri, 19-  at Nationals  -- Sun, 21  (at Santa Barbara, Ca.)  --