Back that Mass up.

Even in defeat, the Harvard women's water polo team feels it has served warning to UMass: we're gaining on you.

The Crimson fell to the No. 11 Minutewomen (25-6) in the finals of the New England Invitational yesterday afternoon at Blodgett Pool, 6-2.

Harvard finished the tournament with a 2-1 record. On Saturday, the Crimson pummeled Boston College, 15-5, and went on to defeat Brown, 9-4.

Harvard Coach Jim Floerchinger praised his team's effort.

"All of the work that they've put in really shows," Floerchinger said. "They've poured their hearts into practice, and the results are there."

The No. 18 Crimson will head to Princeton next week for the College Water Polo Association Eastern Championships, the qualifying tournament for May's National Championships at Indiana University.

Last year, the Crimson finished fourth, just short of the third-place finish needed to clinch a berth at Nationals.

Tri-captain Leslie Bennett feels confident that the team can do more than merely sneak into the Nationals next week.

"I think we'll win," Bennett said. "We've played UMass a few times this year, and we keep getting closer."

UMass 6, Harvard 2

The Crimson entered the game against UMass having lost all three of their previous meetings this year.

In the last meeting at Princeton, UMass jumped out to an early six-goal lead in the first quarter, and Harvard was unable to put any consistent offense together until late in the game.

Although Harvard still struggled scoring, the offense was more fluid and the team was much more confident this time around.

The Crimson managed to keep it close, trailing 2-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Minutewomen added another point to the board before junior Natasha Magnuson broke the shutout, powering in a rebound off a missed penalty shot with thirty-eight seconds remaining in the first half.

Massachusetts tacked on another to make it 4-1 just 30 seconds into the second half.

Junior Jesse Gunderson answered quickly, however, scoring the Crimson's second goal 24 seconds later to pull the Crimson to within two.

The score remained 4-2 for another seven minutes as the Crimson created several scoring opportunities, but could not score inside facing a tough UMass defense.

Additionally, Harvard was unable to capitalize on several situations in which UMass was shorthanded.

"We had a lot of opportunities," Floerchinger said. "But some things didn't work out."

UMass' co-captains sealed Harvard's fate in the fourth quarter. Katie Grogan fired in a shot from the left side with five minutes remaining in the game, and Claudia Clement added another in the game's final minute.

"It's tough, because we did a lot of things right that just didn't end up as scores for us," Floerchinger said. "But man, did we play well. We'll do a little fine-tuning in the next few days, but we're really close."

UMass, now 4-0 against the Crimson this season and 13-3 all time, should be Harvard's greatest obstacle at Easterns next week, although Princeton and Villanova could also cause problems.

"We don't own them yet, but we eventually will," Floerchinger said. "It's a tribute to how hard everyone works in practice, not just whoever's in the pool right then. We're getting there."

Harvard 9, Brown 4

The night before, Harvard swept past Brown (9-13) in a game that was not nearly as close as the score indicated.

Floerchinger began the contest with a speedy lineup designed specifically to tire the Bears early.

The plan worked to perfection.

Sophomore Christine Meiers opened the scoring with the first of her pair of goals less than two minutes into the game, and Magnuson paced the Crimson with four goals as the Crimson opened up a 5-1 lead by halftime.

The Crimson attack was as aggressive as it was balanced, as every loose ball seemed to end up in Harvard's hands.

"It's really good to beat a good team," Floerchinger said. "A lot of teams will begin to let up in practice at this time of year, but we've just been punishing our team in practice, and it shows. Every 50/50 ball out there, we got a hand on."

Sophomore Danielle McCarthy put on a show in goal, making several athletic saves to keep the score 8-2 heading into the final frame. By the time the defense solved McCarthy from outside, the game was long out of reach.

Harvard 15, Boston College 5

The eight-team tournament began with a game between the Crimson and Boston College, and as expected, it was over early. Gunderson and freshman Jane Humphries combined to score five goals in the opening period as the Crimson jumped out to a four-goal lead.

Humphries scored at will on Saturday, notching seven scores, and Gunderson added four.

McCarthy held the Eagles to a single goal in the first half, and senior Carine Williams performed clean-up duty in the second.