Against Strong Lion Team Booters Defend Ivy Title

After struggling through a 3-1 victory over weak Amherst Wednesday. Harvard's varsity soccer team faces a very strong Columbia squad at 1:30 p.m. today on the Lions' Baker Field.

But coach Munro is glad the competition will be much tougher today. "Amherst played a very disorganized game," he said, "and we could never get our attack going. Every time we got the ball settled down, they'd kick the damn thing a mile."

Munro felt the Crimson's poor showing might be a blessing in disguise. "It will keep us on our toes and trying to improve," he said.

Harvard will have to be ready for this game. Although the Lions have been unimpressive in four victories this Fall, Columbia has the potential to be the Crimson's toughest opponent this season.

Last Fall Columbia finished with a 3-1 record, the school's best soccer record. Many Lion records were broken during the season, including most goals by a Columbia team. (33).

Nine starters are returning from that record-setting team, led by All-American midfielder Len Renery. An explosive player at the halfback position, Renery led the Lions with 11 points for the season on four goals and seven assists.

But Columbia is far from a one-man team. On the forward line the Lions can count on senior center Omar Chamma from Beirut, Lebanon. Chamma set a school record by scoring 11 times last year. His penalty kick against Princeton last Saturday led the Lions to a 2-0 Ivy victory.

Columbia won many of its games last year on the strength of its fullback wall. Rocco Commisso, a second-team All-Ivy selection last season, is this year's central figure. Joining him are sophomores Frank Feger and Anton Zauner, and senior Joe Keah.

If the Lions have a weakness it might be in goal where last year's reserves Ellis Galindi and Andy Lichter have shared the starting assignment.

We Can Do It

Munro was confident yesterday that Harvard could beat Columbia. "Columbia has the same short passing game that we do rather than Amherst's long passing attack," he said. "It should be easier for us to play our own game."

Also, Munro felt that Columbia might be weakest at Harvard's strength on the field-the wings. "Our fullback wings were a little timid to join the attack against Amherst," Munro said. "Columbia has two strong inside fullbacks but their outside fullbacks should be weak. If we emphasize our attack on the wings, we should cause a lot of trouble."

No line-up changes are scheduled for today. Rich Scott, who played well as a reserve fullback Wednesday, will probably have more playing time. Shep Messing will start in goal again instead of Bill Meyers, who still must have his knee drained before every game.