Injured Booters Defeat Princeton, 3-1, And Move Into Contention for Ivy Title

Harvard's varsity soccer team, plagued by injuries all year, bounced back into contention Saturday with a 3-1 win over Princeton while losing high scoring center forward Pete Bogovich for the season with an injured knee.

Penn, which had snapped Harvard's winning streak last week apparently eliminating the Crimson from the race, was upset by Yale, 2-1, and thrown into a second place tie with Harvard. If Harvard can beat first place Brown this Saturday and Yale in two weeks, they will salvage a tie for first place.

But the Crimson will have to go without sophomore Pete Bogovich. Bogovich, whose two goals against Princeton brought him within two of Chris Chiri's single season record, played the entire game with a sore knee which he injured in the Penn game. He wrenched the other knee so badly against Princeton that he was unable to walk on it after the game, Coach Bruce Munro said, and is not expected to return for Brown or Yale.

Harvard had only five minutes before the game to warm up because the bus never arrived to take the players from the motel to the field. Private cars were obtained at the last moment. "We were rubber legs for the first quarter," Coach Bruce Munro said, "but we started playing better as the game went on."

Princeton's Bonaventure Mbida gave the Tigers a short-lived lead in the first period when he penetrated Harvard's shaky defense and slipped the ball past Harvard goalie Richie Locksley.

Bogovich tied it up late in the first period and then put Harvard ahead with a third period goal. Solomon Gomez added the third Crimson score in the final quarter on an assist from Ahmed Yehia.

Munro was pleased by the play of the team in the second half. "I thought we moved the ball a lot better," Munro said.

Bogovich was not the only casualty of the contest. Scott Robertson, playing with an injured knee, sprained his ankle and had to leave the game. Bob Gray, just recovered from a serious head injury, also twisted his ankle and left the game in the opening period.

Munro was forced to use a 5-3-2 attack because of the injuries to Richie Hardy and Jaime Vargas. He plans to stay in it for Brown since the injuries have depleted the team's reserves.