Cornell Dumps Stickmen With Fast-Break Offense

Harvard's hopes for its first Ivy League lacrosse title since 1961 took a dive Saturday as the Crimson suffered a 9-3 rout at the hands of defending champion Cornell in Ithaca.

The win gave Cornell a 1-0 Ivy record, while the Crimson dropped to a 1-1 mark. Brown, which dumped Princeton, 10-5. Saturday, appears to be the only Ivy team with a chance to beat the Big Red.

The methodical, but aggressive. Cornell team rolled to a 4-0 lead by early in the second period, and as the third quarter drew to a close, the Big Red held a 7-1 advantage.

The winners used a quick, overloading clear which started several fast breaks and accounted for six goals. Cornell was also able to maintain possession after putting shots on goalie John Cosentino and work the ball around carefully for another shot.

As expected. Ivy scoring champion Al Rimmer was the spark to the Big Red attack. He scored both goals in the first period, and, in the second quarter, scored two more and added an assist to give his team its 5-1 halftime lead. Rimmer ended the day with six points.

But of the nine Cornell goals, only two were scored on man-up plays despite Harvard's 11 penalties. In the past, the Crimson has been relatively ineffective in man-down situations, so the performance Saturday was encouraging.

Harvard's goal were scored by Phil Zuckerman, Leif Rosenberger, and Bucky Hayes, with Cle Landolt getting an assist on Zuckerman's tally. The Crimson tended to rush things too much in an effort to play Cornell's game, and the results were bad. Harvard got off only 33 shots, and goalie Bob Rule was forced to make just nine saves, most of them routine.

As captain Rick Frisbie reflected on the game, he emphasized the contrast between the two teams' style of play. Cornell was much more aggressive in pursuing ground balls, for example. "Unless we change our style of play, I just don't think we can beat this kind of team." he said.

But Frisbie added that the Crimson's approach is probably more fun, and therefore may be more appropriate for a Harvard team.