Fresh Wrestlers Favored in Meet Against Meek New Haven Matmen

Harvard's worst freshman wrestling team ever hopes to avoid a losing season by beating Yale this Saturday in New Haven. The Crimson takes a dismal 3-4-1 record into the contest, while the toothless Bullpups have not won a match in six tries.

Yardling coach John Lee, whose teams had lost only eight times in his past 11 years at Harvard, said yesterday that lack of material has been his biggest problem this season. "We have only 14 boys out for ten positions," Lee said. "Three of our starters are really green. We have to start each match with 9 to 15 points against us -- and that's never happened before."

Something Respectable

Except for a 23-8 embarrassment at Rutgers, the Crimson has looked respectable even in defeat. It has lost its last three matches by only ten points -- to Springfield, 20-18; Princeton, 18-12; last week, to Brown, 18-16. Harvard's three wins came early in the season against Dean Junior, M.I.T. and Columbia -- all on the road. The best it has managed in three home matches is a 15-15 tie with Penn.

"Our old rivals have given us less competition this year," Lee said, "which has allowed us to do fairly decently." Lee blamed the increased competition from new teams like Rutgers, which have replaced the prep school opponents of past years, as contributing to this team's unusually poor season.

A Bright Light

There has been one bright light for Lee this season -- Jim Abbott. The 189 pound Abbott, who switched from heavy-weights to the 191 class after two matches, has a 7-1 record. His only loss came at M.I.T. against a 250-pounder.

Lee hopes Abbott can enter the Freshman Eastern Tournament on March 18 at Army in the 177 class. "Abbott stands a real good chance of winning," Lee said. "We've really been pushing his butt this past week."

"I know I can lose the 12 pounds," Abbott said last night, "but it may be a little dry the last week or so."

Lee feels that despite his team's poor showing "it has a lot of potential to send on to the varsity." He singled out Captain Paul Catinella (137), 6-1-1, and Bruce Goodman (130), 5-1-1, as wrestlers with extraordinary potential.