In the fourth quarter of last weekend’s Harvard men’s water polo game against George Washington, after the Colonials' set struck co-captain Luka Babic in the eye, the scene in the pool was a bloody mess.

“A bunch of guys jumped in the pool to lift me out and stayed with me until the doctor came,” said Babic, recapping the ordeal. “I was pretty out of it … They were really worried.”

Despite two large cuts above and below Babic’s left eye, the Crimson senior refused to leave his team for the hospital until the conclusion of the double-overtime game.

Babic got his way. He watched Harvard score its final goal to sink George Washington, 14-13, and then headed to the hospital where he was given 15 stitches for his eye laceration.

“It was overtime, so I just wanted to be with the team to finish it,” said Babic, who was second on the team for assists and steals last season.

Although the hit may have initially looked brutal, Babic brushed it off.

“It’s not a big deal—it just looked really bad,” he said.

Babic got his stitches removed yesterday and hopes to return to the pool for practice this afternoon. However, the Serbian attacker will not return to intercollegiate competition until next weekend, and will thus miss three games at this weekend’s North-South Tournament in Annapolis, Md.

“We are just going to do the same thing we did last week,” said Babic of the team’s strategy for coping without a captain. “Coach [Ted Minnis] basically just switched around the lineups. These are preseason games, so this would usually happen anyway.”

And as far as the facial scarring goes, Babic doesn’t seem to be too worried.

“It doesn’t look pretty right now at all,” Babic said. “But it’s going to be better soon, I promise.”