Ohiri Leads Varsity, May Surpass Present Individual Soccer Records

Judging by the applause, the high point in Saturday's football game against Colgate was the announcement that the soccer team had beaten Amherst that morning, 4 to 2. An even greater stir followed the news that Chris Ohiri had scored all four goals, bringing his total to 14 in the first three games.

The legend of the 22-year-old Nigerian Olympic booter did not take long to spread across the East. Before the Andover match last year, freshman coach Dana Getchell briefed his undefeated team: "They've heard about Chris, and they're scared to death of us." (Andover managed a 2-2 tie, the best anyone could do against last year's freshmen.)

Discussing opposing coaches' strategy of double-teaming him, Ohiri says: "It's only hurting them more. They are making me try harder, but they're leaving a man open." Cornell's defense couldn't stop him: Chris scored five goals and established a Harvard and Ivy League record.

"Ever Since He Can Remember"

Born in Oweeri, East Nigeria, in 1939, Ohiri says he has been playing soccer "ever since I can remember--from the time I could recognize a ball." From sandy beaches, rubber balls, and bare feet, he moved on into high school competition, the city team, the regionals, and, in 1959, the Nigerian All-Stars.

In Rome last summer, Ohiri started at right wing for Nigeria. The competition was stiff ("They were tough, trained, and used to playing together.") and, after beating Ghana, his team lost 3-2 to Egypt in a preliminary round. He had a place on the Nigerian track team, but gave it up to travel to the U.S. in August on "The Experiment in International Living."

Before leaving for Rome, though, Ohiri had competed unofficially with Ghana, Sierra Leone, and the U.S. He jumped 60 ft. to defeat U.S. Olympian Ira Davis in the hop, step, and jump.

It came as no surprise that the freshman broad jump record was demolished with a 23 ft., 10 in. vault. And by the end of the nine-game freshman soccer season, Ohiri had found the nets 36 times. "We don't keep track of those records," said Baaron B. Pittenger, director of Sports Information, "but you can bet that's a record. Nobody scores 36 goals in a season."

Ohiri is a better bet on Harvard and Ivy soccer records than Maris was on the Ruthian "60." With 14 goals behind him, he needs one more to tie the Harvard record of 15 in an 11-game season. The Ivy record of eight in a season seems particularly vulnerable: Chris scored five times in the first of seven matches.

Although Ohiri maintains that he's not shooting for records (he doesn't even know some of his targets), he feels he has a good chance to fell the Ivy eight-in-one-season mark, "if I can stay in shape and if the weather is good." A pulled groin muscle will probably keep him out of the lineup against Williams today, but he is definitely setting his sights on Columbia this Saturday.

Ohiri's remarkable feats this season have forced the Harvard Sports Information Office into a job it never thought it would have to do: compiling a record book on soccer goals by varsity players. Baaron B. Pittenger, director, dug back into Harvard soccer history and completed these personal statistics yesterday:

* Goals, season--15 (H.H. Broadbent '32, 1929)

* Goals, Ivy season--8 (four players, 1955-60)

* Goals, game--5 (Chris Ohiri '64, 1961 vs. Tufts, Cornell)

* Goals, Ivy game--5 (Chris Ohiri '64, 1961 vs. Cornell)

* Goals, career (29 games--29 (H.H. Broadbent '32)

Pittenger's next project is the investigation of national collegiate records to certify varsity coach Bruce Munro's statement that "Chris Ohiri is probably the greatest college soccer player in the U.S."