Soccer Team Downs Amherst in Rain; Ohiri Scores All Goals in 4-2 Triumph

Amherst, Oct. 14--Chris Ohiri over-came a minor injury, a stacked defense, and a stinging second-half rainstorm a score all four goals as the varsity soccer team defeated Amherst, 4 to 2, today. The Crimson center forward led Harvard to its third straight victory with two goals in each of the second and third periods.

(Ohirl's injury, a pulled muscle in the left groin, will probably not keep him from starting in Wednesday's game with Williams.)

A large, partisan crowd, including most the Williams varsity, watched a stuborn Amherst team and a courageous goalie battle Harvard for two periods of fun, exciting soccer. With the Crimson lead 2 to 1 at the half, a drenching rain began and continued throughout the game, turning the field into a swamp and play into a joke.

The goals Ohiri did not score were at least as spectacular as the ones he did. Leaping high to head a corner kick into the nets in the third period, he landed to learn that the referee had called the play back. He did not believe that anyone could jump so high without pushing off from the goalie's shoulders.

Amherst came out fast in the scoreless first quarter, beating the Crimson half-backs to loose balls and generally taking the initiative. Harvard goalie John Adams was pressed early and often but was always equal to the occasion.

Ohiri, Ward Miss Goals

Midway through the quarter Ohiri gave the crowd and the opposition a hint of things to come. Bearing down on lonely Amherst goalie Tony Scolnick, Ohiri slammed a low line-drive, missing by inches. Moments later, Harvard center-halfback Billy Ward bounced his first of two shots off the posts, and the Crimson scoring machine seemed ready to move into high goar.

But it took a bad defensive lapse early in the second period for Harvard to score its first goal. In a scramble in front of the Amherst cage, goalie Scolnick darted out of the goal after a loose ball, only to see fullback Nick Prigge pass it back and actually past him. As the ball rolled toward the empty nets, Ohiri easily tapped it in.

Inspired rather than demoralized by their bad break, Amherst roared back. After Adams saved a goal with a diving catch, center-halfback Larry Dewitt floated a three-quarter-speed direct penalty kick past the Harvard goalie to tie the game.

Ohiri ended the scoring in the first half with an unforgettable shot. From behind the outer circle at least 25 yards from the goal, Ohiri blasted a scorching kick which no one on the field, least of all Scolnick, could get anywhere near.

The rain started at half-time, an increasingly hard rain mixed with a fine hail. But before the flood really broke at the beginning of the fourth quarter, lightning had struck twice more.

Racing downfield slightly behind two Amherst fullbacks, Ohiri watched a high pass sail over his head. Heading the high-bouncing ball between the defenders, he ran between and past them, picked it up with his right foot, dribbled briefly, and scored easily.

Soon after, he put Harvard ahead 4 to 1. Taking a long, pin-point pass from center-half Ward, Ohiri dribbled around a fullback to the left of the goal, streaked in, and put a fast ground shot past the diving goalie into the far corner.

As the game degenerated completely in the rain, Amherst center-forward Ken Garni scored a final goal for the home team in the last quarter.