Imagine yourself struggling to tread water for hours at a time while stranded in a pool of water which seems to have to bottom.

No one can help you as your legs begin to feel like jello and each time you try to come up for breathe, you are met only with unforgiving mouthfuls of water. Then when it seems like it could get no worse, you begin to be dragged down under the surface.

This scenario is what a water polo player faces each game, but tonight, the Harvard men's water polo team is about to meet an even bigger challenge when it faces off against Ivy nemesis Brown at Blodgett Pool.

"We've lost more than we have won against Brown," said senior captain Jonathan Gill. "But every game has been really close and has come down to the wire. It just seems like we try to get up for each game with them because we feel like we can win every time."

Adding to the flame, Brown was the team which ended Harvard's season last year as well as its hopes for the Eastern title in a 9-8 grueling overtime loss at Blodgett Pool. Put that together with the fact that Harvard's season has already been branded a "rebuilding year" and tonight's game means that much more.

"The loss last year took us out of Easterns, but that was an old team," Gill said. "We are a brand new team and we are leaving all that in the past and making a new start."

The Crimson started the season with an impressive 23-6 shelling of MIT. Sophomore two-meter man Michael Zimmerman and junior driver Andy Davis led the attack with six and five goals respectively.

Brown is an entirely different team, however. Equipped with an impressive recruiting class, the Bears will pose a wide threat to the Crimson defense.

"With Brown, there was never one guy to center on," said junior goalie Ed Chen. "Especially now that they brought in all their recruits, they have an all-around solid team."

The players and the critics have left the entire fate of the Crimson's season in the hands of just one game.

"This team has a much better attitude," Chen said. "We want to win and we will do whatever it takes to win."