Forgive the Harvard men's water polo team if it looks a bit unimposing.

There's only 13 players on it, and yes, it is a varsity team. After losing the core of the squad to graduation last year, the Crimson won't need a whole lot of buses for road games.

At first glance, this looks very bad for Harvard. The departed includes stalwarts Julian Alexander '96, Chip Hellar '96 and Alex Kim '96, and coach Don Benson '88 only brought in three players (two freshmen and a transfer from the University of Washington).

"Coming into the season, I knew that we were going to be low in numbers," Benson said. "I expected it to be a rebuilding year, but so far in preseason I've been pleasantly surprised. This team is in the best shape of any in my three seasons."

They'll have to be. In the second game of the season, Harvard takes on its super-arch rival Brown, who defeated the Crimson 9-8 in the Eastern Championships qualifier after the teams split their previous two meetings.

This early game is a league game, so whether or not Harvard wins will affect its seedings in the qualifiers. And since the Crimson is hosting Easterns for the first time ever in 1996, the squad would be rather embarrassed if it didn't qualify for its own tournament.

To make this season successful, Harvard will have to use its quickness. It's a small team in size, not just numbers, so the Crimson can't get into any muscle-fests. Instead, Harvard has to have a fast counterattack, and in the set offenses the team will try to run picks and other timing plays.

However, all this fast swimming will make the squad tired, and with an empty bench, everyone has to use their energy wisely.

"There's some players who are going to have to play every minute," Benson said. "We're going to have to be cautious about [getting] foolish ejections."

One of the main every-minute players will be sophomore Mike Zimmerman, the team's scoring leader as a freshman and an All-Conference selection. A two-meter attacker, Zimmerman is one of the team's only inside forces.

Other key players will be captain John Gill, junior goalie Ed Chen and senior Dan Arbelaez, who added 10 lbs. of muscle over the offseason.

The recruits will also be called on to play a lot this year as well. Leading the way is junior transfer student Marthy Edlund, the Washington State Player of the Year, and freshmen Dror Bar-ziv and Tom Ecks.

OUTLOOK * MEN'S WATER POLO

RECORD: 13-11

COACH: Don Benson '88

CAPTAIN: John Gill '97

KEY RETURNEES: Dan Arbelaez '97, Mike Zimmerman '99, Tom Chalberg '99, Ed Chen '98

KEY LOSSES: Julian Alexander '96, Alex Kim '96, Jake Basset '96