The fifth year has always been the most scrutinized period of any Five Year Plan and it's no different for Harvard men's water polo Coach Chris Hafferty.

Coach: Chris Hafferty

Captains: Nick Branca, Andy Freed and John Griffin

1988 Records: 19-8

1988 New England League Finish: 2nd

Hafferty begins his fifth year at the helm of the water polo program with the momentum of a steadily-improving record and only two players (Joe Kaufman and goalie Greg Beber) lost to graduation, but also with the frustration of the Crimson's inability to break into the upper ranks of the nation's squads. The 1988 team finished 19-8, including a second place finish at the New England Championships, but in the Easterns, the Crimson stumbled to a seventh place finish.

And seventh is the highest Harvard has been able to finish in the Easterns in recent years, despite improving enough to dominate all of its New England rivals except Brown. From this follows the fifth-year goal of Hafferty's Five Year Plan--the Crimson must raise its level of play to match that of Eastern powers Army, Brown, Arkansas, Iona, Bucknell and Navy.

The offensive firepower to crack the Top 20 exists in junior forward John Marshall and sophomore forwards Mike Johnson, Peter Richards and Todd Forman, a standout relief pitcher for Alex Nahigian's baseballers in the spring. Richards led the squad in scoring last season with more than 40 goals, with Forman and Johnson rounding out the top three.

Improved consistency from the hole is necessary to give the young guns better open shots and Forman, Co-Captain Andy Freed and senior Eric Bentley are the top candidates to run the offense from this position.

But when the Crimson plays its first game September 16 against Army in an Eastern League tournament, it is defense where Hafferty will be looking for the biggest improvement.

"Because we played so many freshmen last year and they hadn't played together before, we frequently made mistakes on defense," Hafferty said. "We have to improve the overall team communication which killed us last year."

Sophomore Kio Lippitt is the most promising of a group of defenders and goalies who will be expected to solidify last season's occasionally porous defense.

The Crimson, which only started practicing September 4, will be tested early by the Cadets, which worked together as early as August 15 But Harvard entered the top 20 last year with a midseason 9-7 overtime victory over Army.

And Hafferty is pleased with the off-season conditioning of the Crimson, who will be captained by Freed, John Griffin and Nick Branca.

"I'm very optimistic because the team has come back in the best shape of any of my teams at Harvard," Hafferty said.