Laxmen Fall to Bruins 11-9

Brown senior Charlie Meister didn't score any goals. Or any assists. In fact, he probably wasn't within three passes of any of his team's tallies. You see. Brown senior Charlie Meister is a backup goalie. But somehow his entrance into Saturday's lacrosse game with Harvard ignited Bruno's offensive boosters, propelling the Bruins past a crumbling Crimson squad, 11-9, at the Business School Field.

The game's pivotal point, when momentum exchanged its Crimson shorts for a brown jersey and color-coordinated socks, came at the 3:16 mark of the third period. Harvard had scored two goals within a minute, and looked ready to jettison the game out of reach.

Brown head coach, Cliff Stevenson, the only coach in Brown lacrosse history, decided he'd seen just about enough of starting goalkeeper Colin Finch and called time out for the substitution and a little pep talk. Whether it was the presence of Meister in the nets or Stevenson's words, from then on all systems were go for the Brown middies and attackmen.

Just 18 seconds after the time out, and shortly after a nice save by Meister. Bruin middle Greg Shay flipped a short pass to middie Greg Curtin, who whirled and rocketed a shot past Crimson netminder Tim Pendergast.

And 31 seconds later, Curtin, barely noticeable in the game's first half, took a pass from Joby Harris behind the net and launched his second tally past Pendergast to even the game at six.

Shortly after the ensuing face-off, Curtin picked up a loose ball right in front and unwound with another burner, but Pendergast dropped down to the ground with an excellent stick save and the game remained tied for the next four minutes.

Harris, however quickly picked up where Curtin had left off. Orbiting outside a pack in front of the Harvard net. Harris faked a high shot over a Crimson defender and, in a semi-bolo move. reversed himself and submarined it under the defender's stick and past a startled Pendergast. putting the Bruins up. 7-6. for only their second lead of the game.

With Brown a man short after an unnecessary roughness penalty. Crimson freshman J.J. Nullet bounced home this third goal of the day (his other three goals this season all came last Sunday against Penn). and the first against Meister. at 10:26. to tie it up once more. 7.7.

But Bruin middie Jeff Hacker took a pass from Shay (he had four assists on the afternoon). looped around the top of the zone and ripped a shot past Pendergast at 11:29, sending the Bruins into the fourth quarter with an 8-7 lead.

After a Harvard penalty opened the final period. Harris used the man-advantage opportuity to slam home his second goal at 1:56. Harvard twice cut the Brown lead to one in the game's final 12 minutes. on goals by Rich Rainaldi and Rich Doyle. but Harris clicked for the hat trick at 3:56 on yet another Shay assist and Bruin Angelo Bobosco converted a pretty Pendergast save into an even prettier slap-it-out-of-the-air goal to close out the scoring at 8:06.

TODAY'S GAMES

Women's tennis at Dartmouth

Volleyball v. UMass. 7:30, IAB

WEEKEND RESULTS

Baseball 20, Northeastern 6

Brown 11, men's lacrosse 9

Women's lacrosse 13, URI 3

Men's tennis 6, Duke 3

Women's tennis 9, UPenn 0

The Harvard rugby team last weekend earned a trip to the national championships by placing first in the Eastern championships at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The ruggers dumped Cornell (16-3), Princeton (12-11), Navy (11-7) and Army (26-12) on their way to the title.

NBA Playoffs

Boston 109, Chicago 103 (Boston wins series, 4-0)

Milwaukee 100, Philadelphia 98 (series tied, 2-2)

San Antonio 114, Houston 112 (series tied, 2-2)