A week after officially beginning Northern Division play, the No. 19 Harvard men's water polo team traveled to Princeton with an eye toward proving it could also tangle with the best of the Southern Division.

The team left with its most compelling argument yet for being able to play with the best in the East.

Although the Crimson (8-5) fell to No. 17 Princeton, 9-7, on Saturday, the team rebounded with its most important win in recent years, a 6-5 triumph over the No. 16 US Naval Academy.

"From what I know of Harvard lore, this may have been this biggest win for us in 10 years," said sophomore driver Mike Masterson.

The win capped off a 3-1 weekend at the North-South Water Polo Challenge for Harvard, which also included comfortable wins over Salem-Teikyo and George Washington.

Harvard 6, Navy 5

In winning its biggest game of the season, the Crimson found a way to pound the ball inside and let Sean Cheng do the rest.

The junior two-meter responded with the game of his career. He led Harvard with a hat trick, including the game winner with just over 90 seconds remaining.

"It was the best game I've ever been a part of," said Cheng. "It was unbelievably intense."

Harvard held a 5-4 lead in the late stages of the seesaw battle, but Navy knotted the score with a shot from the outside with two minutes to play.

That set the stage for Cheng's third goal. He received a pass inside and fired it past Navy netminder Sean Stanowski to win the game.

The two teams had traded goals for the bulk of the first half, until Navy scored three unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead.

But Cheng scored his second goal--a long shot from far beyond his usual range--with six seconds remaining in the half to keep the Crimson close.

The second half was marked by Harvard's strength--solid team defense.

Harvard held Navy to 5-for-26 shooting from the field for the game, and just one goal in the last two quarters.

The Crimson also held Navy captain Sean Foster, who had scored three goals against UMass, to a single score during the upset.

"They're a fast team, a team that drives a lot," Masterson said. "But we were able to stay with them. I don't think they scored off a set play for the game, mostly on breaks and counterattacks."

Sophomore Paul Tselentis, continuing to thrive as half of Harvard's two-headed netminder, excelled in goal. He had 12 crucial blocks for the Crimson.

"He was a big reason we won this game, if not the biggest reason," Masterson said. "Paul was phenomenal."

Cheng gave added credit to the coaching staff for its pregame preparation.

"Today, we were very mentally focused, and the coaches game us a great scouting report on Navy," Cheng said. "We knew what we could do against them, and just put forth a tremendous team effort."

The victory over Navy speaks volumes about the team's improvement from a year ago. The Midshipmen are the only CWPA team that has beaten UMass this year. They did so twice, including once this weekend.

Navy also had wins over No. 14 Queens and No. 17 Princeton under its belt.

"Right now, we think we can beat any team on the East Coast," Cheng said. "We're very confident."

The Crimson should have no trouble riding that confidence into the next crucial portion of its division schedule. The team will host B.C. and MIT on Wednesday before taking on No. 20 Iona, Brown, Lehman and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy next weekend.

From there, the team will head to UMass, to take on four more teams, including No. 14 Queens and No. 15 St. Francis.

Harvard needs to finish with at least the third best record in the Northern Division in order to qualify for postseason play.

Princeton 9, Harvard 7

On Saturday, Harvard lost to Princeton in front of a bloodthristy home crowd at DeNunzio Pool.

Anxious to see what will likely be the Tigers' only matchup against an Ivy League team this year--Princeton is the only Ancient Eight team in the Southern Division--the crowd propelled Princeton to a 9-7 win.

The Crimson leapt into action immediately after a six-hour bus ride, and still managed to tussle with the Tigers in a back-and-forth battle.

"I thought we played an intense, even game," Cheng said. "We were focused, but antsy, and the trip didn't help."

The game was tied at 1-1 after a quarter, but Princeton senior Chris Gratian was just getting warmed up. He scored four goals to lead the Tigers.

Harvard actually outscored Princeton in the second half, but was unable to fully close the gap.

"We played good defense, but missed a few shots," Masterson said. "They don't all go in."

The team also defeated George Washington, 13-3, and Salem-Teikyo, 16-7. Both wins were as predictable as they were lopsided.

George Washington is winless in the Southern Division East, with an 0-3 record. Salem-Teikyo has a 3-1 CWPA record in the Southern Division West, a division with no ranked teams.