Harvard Captures Water Polo Crown With 8-6 Victory

It has been 3 years since Rich Corso left his job as assistant water polo coach at UCLA to take over the program at Harvard High. And Wednesday, as he looked out over his team--his newly crowned Southern Section 2-A Division champion team--he could not help but let his mind drift back.

In 3 years, Corso had taken a perennial loser and, by virtue of Harvard’s 8-6 win over La Serna in the final at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, turned it into the Valley area’s first water polo champion in 7 seasons.

But the Saracens had to rally to do it. La Serna (22-9) jumped to a 4-1 advantage midway through the third quarter and appeared to have Harvard (27-3) confused and frustrated. But the Saracens regrouped quickly and scored 5 consecutive goals and 7 of the next 9. Five players scored fourth-quarter goals.

Senior Justin Cheen had a team-high 3 goals--all in the second half.