Booters Shake Up Line, Get Baked, 2-0

"The ball is fired into the Princeton end and Harvard changes on the fly..." You could almost imagine such a play-by-play account of the soccer team's efforts Saturday at Princeton's Poe field as Crimson coach George Ford went to a platoon system to ignite his beleaguered forward line.

(Harvard is now 2-8-1, 1-3 in the lvies), the offense showed some sparks in producing 14 shots on goal. Only a few blown shots at the Tiger goalmouth kept the Crimson scoreless.

Ford dislikes the term 'platooning' to describe his game plan. "It was just a case of trying to see who could play up," he said Saturday. "You've got four very good players all vying for two positions."

But whatever you call it, players were shuttled in halfway through the opening period and remained in until halfway through the final period. The inherent disadvantage of bringing players cold off the bench into the height of a soccer game was evident.

No Breakthroughs

The opening inside tandem of Lee Nelson and Mike Mogollon worked well with midfielders Michael Smith and Andy Kronfeld, dominating the center line area and working out to the wings. But Harvard was unable to consistently break through inside as Princeton, relying on its speedy forwards, brought all 11 men back to play defense.

Walter Diaz entered with Steve Yakopec around the 25 minute mark and started slowly. But Diaz, playing his preferred back forward, initiated several runs slanting to the center which shook up the Princeton defense.

Baby on the Doorstep

Then twice in the closing minutes of the half, Yakopec took crosses--a Peter Sergienko free kick and a Dave Eaton chip--and shovelled the ball to Diaz on the Tiger doorstep, whose shots went wide left and over the top, respectively.

The novelty of the new combination seemed to wear off in the second half as the Crimson never again created such golden opportunities, despite controlling much of the game. When Nelson and Mogollon returned, they could not shift into high gear.

The players reluctantly accepted the strategy as necessary to rejuvenate the Crimson scoring machine. "We're out there to win, and George is doing what he thinks is best for the team. He's doing this to try to get some scoring," Diaz said last night.

Ford said he decided to platoon because "Walter (Diaz) and Lee (Nelson) are two very similar players," who like to work the ball up from midfield. Ford says he is looking for "more aggressive" players to complement Diaz and Nelson up front and put the ball in the net.

"Playing Steve (Yakopec) up front allowed me to roam around some more and then we can switch off," Diaz, who played his best game of the season, said.

Nelson agreed with the reasoning. "I'm not sure that Walter and I ever did work that well together. It never was the ideal match-up." But he added that with the platooning, "it takes a while to get back into the game. I'm not going to play my best game this way."

Ford "ought not to keep two forwards out for what, in essence, is the middle half of the game," Nelson said.

Ford was pleased with the Princeton game plan and intends to continue using it. "I think the players have accepted it," he said.