UMass Topples J.V. Booters; Near Misses Stymie Crimson

Frustration was the catchword for the day for the men's J.V. soccer squad.

Missed opportunities and mental errors contributed to a long afternoon yesterday, as booters succumbed to the UMass J.V.'s 4-1, dropping the Crimson's record to 1-2.

Harvard's lone tally came in the second half when Jay Hooper took a free kick from Ted Bayliss and drilled the ball into the upper corner of the goal. Hooper's blast narrowed the UMass lead to 2-1, but the Minutemen responded five minutes later with striker Eric Zuckerman's second score of the day. His tally put the game out of reach, as Harvard failed to mount any further serious challenges.

After the game, coach Doug Tashjian said, "We had at least five good chances to score, but simply could not capitalize on these opportunities."

It's Typical

The Crimson trailed 1-0 at the half on a UMass goal that typified the home team's level of play. As a Crimson fullback was sending the ball back to goalie Phil Coogan, Zuckerman interceded for UMass and tapped the ball into an open net.

The Crimson had not yet filled their quota for giving away goals. They repeated the play in the opening minutes of the second half just to see if the Minutemen could do it again. And they did, on Mark Bonde's unassisted goal.

"I was extremely disappointed with the lack of poise we exhibited in allowing two easy goals," Tashjian said. Midfield Simon Hambidge added, "We didn't let them score on us, we scored on ourselves."

UMass completed the scoring with a final tally in the 17th minute.

In previous contests the booters dropped a 4-2 dicision to Massasoit Community College Sept. 22 and gained a 1-0 victory over Wesleyan Sept. 24.