The Harvard women's water polo team suffered its first defeat of the season Friday in a 15-14 overtime loss to perennial rival, Brown. The Crimson recovered in time, however, to post wins Saturday against Metro, Princeton and Dartmouth in the Brown Invitational tournament.

Heading into the Brown invitational, the Crimson (11-1) had dominated its opponents--winning its first eight games by an average margin of 15 goals. The four-team Brown Invitational, however, featured the toughest competition the Crimson has faced over the season.

"All the teams there [at Brown] were good teams," co-captain Christine McElroy said. "It was the first tournament with real competition."

Harvard got its first licks at real competition Friday night against Brown, and the Crimson left the pool with a bitter taste.

"Brown is our traditional rival," McElroy said. "It was a really depressing loss."

In the game, Harvard jumped out to an early lead on the strength of its full-court press, which baffled the Bears in the early going.

The press, combined with sophomore Missy Ford's tenacious play defending the pole-set (the center of the Brown attack), gave Harvard a 7-3 lead going into half-time.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the lead would dissolve through the third quarter in the face of a furious Brown comeback.

"We got a little too confident during half-time," McElroy said. "We didn't play as well in the second half."

Brown took advantage of the Crimson lapse and pulled ahead by a goal in the second half. The two teams battled back and forth through the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime before the Bears finally prevailed.

"Even though we lost," co-captain Erin Pyka said, "I was really impressed that we never gave up, which we could have done after losing a four-point lead."

Ironically, the key to the Crimson success in the first half--the full-court press-may have let Brown into the game in the second half.

"The press worked when we were fresh," Pyka said, "but it started to break down when we got tired."

The loss early in the tournament to Brown did not appear to have any lingering effects, however.

Saturday morning the Crimson jumped back into the pool against Metro--a Boston club squad consisting of graduate students--and emerged with a 7-5 win.

"Metro is traditionally very good," Pyka said. "They have a lot of experience. Our decisive win over them was really a boost to our confidence."

Later Saturday afternoon, the Crimson faced off against Princeton, one of the stronger teams from the Ivy League.

"We didn't know what to expect," Pyka said. "Last year they were really strong."

The game featured intense physical play and although the Tigers stayed close early on, at the final buzzer the Crimson had a convincing 10-4 win.

The aquawomen were not through for the day, yet. Harvard faced its third opponent of the day, Dartmouth, late Saturday afternoon.

The Big Green, who had lost to the Crimson, 22-4, last weekend, made Saturday's affair more interesting by staying with the Crimson through the first half.

The second half, however, belonged to Harvard and the squad cruised to a 12-5 win.

"We were all a little exhausted," Pyka said. "We were upset with how we started the game, but we were able to turn on the energy in the last half."

Over the weekend, the Crimson offense was paced by junior Ana Dujmovic, who scored nearly half of Harvard's goals.

The Crimson also received a stand-out performance by freshman starter, Una Kim.

"Una played really well," Pyka said. "She really came into her own over the weekend, and she's definitely proven herself in recent games."

In goal, junior Cheryl Frank continued to parry opponents shots with outstanding consistency. Except for the Brown game, Frank has kept every opponent below ten goals.

"She [Cheryl] did an awesome job," Pyka said. "She's not only blocking the shots, but she's been much more aggressive in stealing passes as well."

Looking to this weekend's Northern Division Playoffs, Harvard's toughest competition figures to be Brown, again. The top four teams in the playoffs will move on to Easterns, April 28-30.

Despite the loss to the Bears, the aquawomen appear confident that a rematch in the playoffs--which will be held at Blodgett Pool, Friday through Sunday--would produce different results.

"We know we can beat Brown this weekend," Pyka said. "And we will."