It has been eight long years since the Harvard men's water polo team competed at the Eastern Championships. In two weeks, the Crimson shall return.

In Harvard's final game of the Northern Division Championships this weekend at Blodgett Pool, Harvard (22-9, 10-4 CWPA) defeated Brown, 7-5, and secured its spot in the Eastern Championships.

After sinking Fordham, 19-8, and dropping its game to UMass-Amherst, 12-2, on Saturday, Harvard bounced back yesterday with convincing wins over Iona, 9-6, and Brown.

"We're going to Easterns for the first time in a long time," said captain Tom Elke. "We played hard, we played well, and we played as a team. We really came through."

The Crimson entered Northerns seeded fourth and needed a fourth place finish or better to advance to Easterns.

Up until this weekend, it had been Harvard's main team goal to qualify for the Eastern Championships. Over the past few months, the Crimson has been consistently successful.

That success has been contingent upon the renewed work ethic the team has adopted this year, in addition to its deep roster and new sense of team spirit.

"For as hard as we've worked this season, we were not going to lose these games," senior captain Tom Elke said.