Booters Face Severe Challenge Today In Final Non-League Game at Williams

To say that Harvard soccer is in a period of crisis may be a little melodramatic, but it isn't far off the truth as the Crimson booters play their last non-League game at Williams this afternoon.

Beating Williams on its home field is a tall order, and it isn't, a loss to the Ephmen that makes the situation critical. Williams, just like Amherst, considers a win over bigger Harvard a major feather in its cap; whereas the Crimson players, no matter how desirous of proving themselves they may be, cannot look on this as a "big game," with the Ivy opener two days off.

Consider also that Harvard will be playing right on top of a three-hour bus ride; that fullback Karl Lunkenheimer is till out of action and such key performers as Joe Gould, Dudley Blodget, and Bill Schaefer are physically below par; that Williams boasts an undefeated team which last week ended Middlebury's string of 17 straight regular season wins, and you see why Harvard is clearly the underdog.

But worse, far worse, than this is the long-range outlook which sees Harvard as an underdog for the rest of the season, in the Ivy League it once owned. Bruce Munro's Crimson teams have won or tied for six titles in the League's eleven years, and the composite standings for this span still shows Harvard planted firmly on top.

Harvard soccer is now in decline -- or more accurately, the rest of the Ivies have caught up -- and something must be done.

Munro acknowledged this development at this season's outset when he shifted to the three-fullback defense that has become standard in college soccer. The 2-0 loss to Amherst, however, made him immediately switch his attention to offense.

This is a real problem. Munro has directed his players to slow the game down and have all ten men moving forward together. When play reaches the penalty zone, the halfback or inside should slip a pass between the backs toward the goal and, hopefully, the wings and insides will crash through and get off a shot.

This system will be tested against some mighty firm defenses, starting with Williams. Ivy champion Brown is usually the toughest, and the Bruins' smothering 6-1 win over '65 runnerup Penn last Saturday showed that they are still the toughest team to score against and despite their 1-0 loss to Wesleyan, still the team to beat.

Yale, under new head coach Hubert Vogelsinger, unveiled a frighteningly strong four-fullback, three-halfback defense which held Army, NCAA semifinalist for three years running, to a 2-2 overtime tie Saturday. And Dartmouth, traditionally a defensive team, showed that it hasn't changed in a narrow 2-1 loss to Middlebury.

Yale and Brown rely on swift forwards to score on length-of-the-field fast breaks, the weapon that crushed Harvard last season as well as last Saturday. (Dartmouth relies on its defense, and hardly ever scores.)

Harvard doesn't have the Vic de Jongs, the John Griswolds, the faster-than-wind forwards; and Munro is probably right in sticking with the controlled play and short passing which are the Crimson's strong suits.

But too much ball control, too many short passes, and too many tricky dribblers can be fatally ineffective around a penalty area which is loaded with six or seven defenders.

A fast-breaking attack, which scores before the defense can set up, seems to be the ideal offense, if a team has the right personnel.

Munro, instead, is slowing down the Crimson attack and is counting on his players' skill to move the ball through the defenders. He hopes to avoid the diddling that has cost the Crimson shots, and direct their efforts toward the enemy goal.

The first clue to the success of this plan will be this afternoon's game, but the major test in Harvard's attempt to get back to the top of the Ivies will be the contest at Columbia Friday afternoon.