Injuries Hamper Lacrosse Team; Regan, Nicosia Stand Out in South

The tennis team came home waterlogged, the baseball squad was sunburned, but about all Harvard's varsity lacrosse team brought back from their spring trip south were injuries.

In spite of a plague of pulled muscles, bruised shoulders, and sore arms, however, the laxmen managed to net a 3-2 record overall against some of the toughest competition in the nation.

Getting better in every game, the Crimson overpowered C.W. Post, 9-6, and Rutgers, 8-7, before bowing to mighty Navy 14-3, and small college power Washington 10-7. Rebounding from their defeat by Washington, Harvard crushed Adelphi 10-4, to end the trip on a winning note.

And according to Coach Bruce Munro, "if we had been at full strength, I feel we might have done much better."

"It was a long, hard trip, and we were better than we were last year at this time, even with all our injuries," Munro said. "All in all, I was quite pleased with the trip and the team's total performance," he said.

"We had good teamwork and good hustle for most of the games, and spirit was good," Munro added "and if we had been deeper in the midfield and attack we could have given Navy and Washington much rougher games."

Harvard felt the full effect of all its injuries against Navy in the third game of the trip. The Middies, last year's national lacrosse champions, just wore down the undermanned Crimson. With Marty Cain out of the line-up and fellow midfielder Bruce Regan and attackman John Ince unable to finish the game, Harvard just ran out of gas, or more appropriately, men.

The Crimson actually outhustled Navy, for most of the first half, and even tied the shocked Middies, 2-2, by the end of first quarter. Harvard scored first as Ince grabbed a pass, faked out his Navy defender and drilled an over-the-shoulder shot past the startled goalie.

But the pressing Navy team stepped up the attack and bombarded goalie Kirby Wilcox until they finally tallied. Charley Ames hit for Harvard a short time later, but the bruising Middies retaliated to knot the score before the quarter ran out.

Erratic passing hurt the Crimson in the second frame as Navy employed its depth to great advantage. Playing four midfields to Harvard's two, Navy hit hard enough to pull away from the Crimson in the last four minutes of the half 7-3. Captain Tom Nicosia scored the final Crimson goal, before the half ended.

The next day against Washington College, last year's top small college team, it was almost another story, but the Sho'men managed to hold off the charging Crimson to win.

Harvard Presses

Washington jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the quarter and although Harvard pressed and outplayed them the entire second half, it just wasn't enough. Regan scored twice to lead the Crimson.

Coach Munro found little wrong with the team overall. "I felt we were a better team than Washington," he said, "but we were just too bear after playing Navy to really bear down the first half."

Harvard showed what it could do after a day's rest when it rolled over Adelphi's tricky zone defense in the final game of the trip. The Crimson controlled play the whole game, as Regan hit three times and Nicosia added two goals to send Harvard roaring by the Panthers.

Harvard proved it could play with the top teams in the country on the spring trip, but some things were disturbing. The Crimson is woefully thin and if injuries continue to strike, things could go badly in the future. And, while the defense, led by Bob McDowell and Mike Ananis was strong, the midfield and attack need to work more on coordination.