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Sparked by a three goal performance by Felix Adedeji, and playing a solid game defensively, the Harvard soccer team took its second game of the season in convincing fashion. Saturday, soundly beating a highly touted Williams team, 4-0.
The game, which had figured to be a sotly contested struggle between an experienced, well-conditioned Ephman squad and a Crimson contingent long on talent but short on game experience, was decided early by a two goal outburst midway through the first half. Two second half insurance tallies were more than enough as the Crimson defense stymied the Williams attack on route to Harvard's second straight shutout.
Although starting cautiously and looking somewhat nervous and disorganized through the first ten minutes, the Crimson quickly adjusted moving the ball around and utilizing their short passing game effectively. Most importantly. Harvard began to play well as a team.
Williams using a four man diamond defense with a center sweeper, identical to the defense employed by the Crimson last season, saw the game slip away in the first half when Felix Adedeji, positioning himself in front of the sweeper, picked up his second and third goals of the season within a five-minute span. Adedeji scored the second while facing away from the goal, flicking the ball over with his foot.
Munro, who has been playing Adedeji at left inside, shifted the all-Ivy out forward to the left wing early in the game. He moved Dragan Vujovic, who has been coming on strong since returning late last week, to the vacated spot. "I was very happy the way it worked out," Munro said. "The four of them (the offensive line) are a dangerous outfit," he added.
With a 2-0 lead at halftime, and with the wind against them in the second half. Harvard pulled right inside Bent Hinze back behind the line to help the midfield. "The linkmen were getting tired, so we moved Bent back in the role of a feeder, and it worked pretty well," assistant coach Seamus Malin said. Both of Harvard's second half goals were, in fact, set up by the play of Hinze.
The first, from Hinze to Adedeji, came on a shot from a difficult angle. A long cross pass by Bent was trapped by Felix and fired along the ground for Adedeji's hat trick. Hinze had scored a hat trick earlier against MIT on Wednesday. A Hinze shot deflected by Vujovic completed the scoring.
The defense, which had expected to be tested more severely than against MIT, played well under some pressure all afternoon. Although unable to mount many serious offensive threats in the first half. Williams came back in the later stages of the game to pressure Harvard's new diagonal defense, but the Ephman were unable to convert their scoring opportunities. "They just couldn't finish," defenseman Rich Cuita said.
"The defense jelled and looked solid," Munro said, "and they used Kidder well. "It was a tough ball game. I didn't expect us to do that well, but I was very pleased," he added.
"People began to move off the ball." Seamus Malin said, "and we played a smart, short passing game."
Injuries which might have played some part in the outcome, did not prevent several starters from seeing considerable action. Captain Rick Scott, heavily taped as a result of a tight hamstring, played a fine game while Adedeji's knee had little effect on his play. Linkman Emmanuel Ekama and Bahman Mossavar-Rahmani both played most of the game, although not completely healthy.
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