There's both good news and bad news.

The Harvard men's water polo team came to the end of its season this weekend at the Eastern Qualifying Tournament at Brown, losing a heartbreaking 7-5 contest to the Bears on Saturday.

The Crimson, however, walked away from the weekend excursion on a winning note with heads held high.

Following the loss to Brown, the team was victorious over both Boston College and Fordham, thereby ending its season not only on a high note, but with well-deserved respect.

"It is a great credit to our team to be able to have played this well at the end of the season," said Coach Don Benson '88.

Harvard's biggest challenge this past weekend was Brown. In order to advance to the Eastern Championships the following weekend, the team needed a win. This victory eluded' the Crimson in a match that proved to be an incredibly hard-fought contest.

Throughout the first three quarters of play, the two teams appeared to be exactly evenly matched--both schools netting only one goal per each period of play.

Entering the fourth quarter with a score of 3-3, Harvard's chances looked good.

Too good, as it turned out.

With little over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Bears scored to take the lead at 4-3. Brown used this sudden momentum to its advantage, netting a further two goals in quick succession to take a 6-3 lead with just three minutes to go in the game.

The victims of two disallowed goals from shots taken by junior Chris Tilghman, the Crimson was unable to regroup completely from its opponents scoring streak. Harvard battled back fiercely but was forced to settle for a final score of 5-7.

"The Brown game was really tight," said senior goalkeeper Ed Chen. "Going into the fourth quarter with a score of 3-3, I think we could have won. But we broke down a little in the fourth and let them have a few easy goals."

This loss was a devastating end for a team whose season-long struggle for success had finally begun to pay off.

"It's a shame," Benson said. "Now that we have started to play really well, it had to come to such an abrupt end."

Harvard's weekend, however, was sweetened by powerful wins over B.C. and Fordham.