Booters Overpower Cornell, 3-1

Unveiling a new offense, Harvard's varsity soccer team blasted its way to a 3-1 victory over Cornell on Saturday. Coupled with Dartmouth's loss to Brown, this win left the Crimson the only undefeated team in the Ivy League. On points, Harvard trails Brown, but has played one less game.

Using a 4-2-4 offense for the first time this year, Harvard deployed inside Jaime Vargas and center halfback Richie Hardy as the "link" men between the defense and the forward line. Vargas and Hardy helped the Crimson gain control of the mid-field play, while greatly improving the quickness and coordination of the passing.

Simply Awesome

Pressing the attack from the opening whistle, the Crimson rebounded from last week's disappointing showing at Columbia. Bombarding Cornell's goalie with an awesome shooting display, Harvard missed many scoring opportunities in the opening period.

Inside Solomon Gomez created tremendous excitement early in the game, barery failing to score four times. Center forward Peter Bogovich, Captain Scott Robertson, and Vargas continually penetrated the Big Red's defense in the first half, only to have their shots turned aside.

But Cornell struck first. With 9:24 gone in the first quarter, star center forward Nick Alexandridis, who led the Ivy League in scoring last year, broke through the Crimson's defense, faked goalie Rich Locksley, and bounced the ball past him into the left corner of the net.

Loose Balls

Fired up by the Redmen's score, Harvard regained control of the play, exerting great pressure through the rest of the first period and the beginning of the second. At 9:21 in the second quarter, Vargas picked up a loose ball in heavy traffic at the head of the penalty area, dribbled into the clear, and booted a twisting 15-yarder into the upper right hand corner of the net to knot the score.

Roused and hungry for more goals, the Crimson tallied again less than eight minutes later. Racing through the Redmen defense, outside Ahmed Yehia dribbled down the right sideline and crossed a perfect pass onto the foot of Bogovich at the top of the penalty area. Finding daylight between two defenders, Bogovich kicked a bouncing shot into the nets to the right of Cornell's frozen goalie.

Cornell's offense grew increasingly ineffective, going onto the attack only sporadically in the first half, which saw the Crimson outshoot the Redmen 18-3.

Knock-Knock

The second half began with Harvard knocking on the door again. Led by Robertson, who put on a dazzling show of footwork and passing, the Crimson nearly turned the game into a rout.

The Redmen goalie made a diving save on a breakaway by Gomez, and Robertson hit the post before Gomez finally found the mark at 7:10. Taking a pass from Vargas on the left side of the penalty area; Gomez blasted a low liner home, icing the game.

Crimson coach Bruce Munro substituted freely for his starting team in the last quarter. Cornell, outshot by 29-7, vented their frustration with Harvard's mastery of the game when Alexandridis was ejected from the field for arguing with the referee.

Gomez, who had enough close misses for a season, smiled good humoredly about his bad luck after the game. "I was disappointed, but I knew there was time." He danced and smiled with great joy when he did finally score.

Boy-o-Buoy

Munro was buoyed by the great play of his "dream" line. Speaking of Cornell, he commented that "they just didn't seem up for this game. But," he added, "they're tough."

Looking to the future, Munro said that he was extremely pleased with the way his new offense worked out. "You have to give a lot of credit to the whole team. They only had a week to adjust to the new set up."