Crimson Booters Battle Quakers Today

The Crimson booters go after their fourth Ivy victory in as many starts against a temperamental and potentially dangerous Penn squad at 10:30 a.m. today at the Business School field.

A victory for the Crimson today would solidify its position as a leading contender for the Ivy crown and would virtually guarantee a second-place finish.

Potential

The Crimson should be considered the favorite today, but Penn has the potential to deny the sweet taste of victory to the Harvard team.

Penn brings into the game a 3-4-1 record (1-2 in the Ivy) against the Crimson's 5-1-1, 3-0 Ivy record.

The Quakers of course should be taken seriously. The Quakers feature two players who have already been selected to the Olympic team--John Borozzi, and Santiago Formoso--along with a standout halfback in Tom Bartolino.

Penn has suffered from graduation, having lost three solid defensemen. In recent contests, Cornell and Brown scored two goals each against Penn's defense.

The Quakers' offense has not shown any particular spark, having scored only one goal in the Ivies against Princeton. Penn took 39 shots on goal in that game last weekend, but forced the goalie to block only nine shots.

Penn will roll its 4-3-3 set-up against Harvard's fluctuating 3-3-4 line on the grass field.

The grass field itself should present an advantage for Harvard since Penn usually plays on artificial turf.

But the Quakers will be playing a game different from that which Harvard is accustomed to. Their team is big, physical, fast and has not been known to limit their kicks at the ball.

Brown coach Cliff Stevenson said, while scouting the recent Harvard 2-1 victory over Williams, that Penn's Formoso once kicked the Brown goalie while the latter was on the ground. He added that Penn players were extremely physical while trying to intimidate the Bruins.

Barring any outrageous officiation--which would allow Penn to get out of hand--the fans should be able to enjoy a game pitting a disciplined, aggressive, well-conditioned and confident Crimson against an individually talented, physical, occasionally disjointed but inevitably hungry Penn.