Fall Sports

The problem with The Game this year was that everything went exactly the way it was supposed to. Yale strolled into Cambridge as the favorite, and strolled out as 14-0 victor and Ivy League champ.

After last year's amazing Harvard upset at Yale, Crimson football fans had come to expect a lot out of The Game. And the scene was so ideal for an upset. A victory would have given Harvard a share of the elusive Ivy title and, by all odds, the Crimson had a much better chance of winning this one that it did going into last year's Game.

Harvard had blasted off to five straight wins at the start of the season. The victories included an upset triumph over Army and a satisfying revenge filled drubbing of Cornell. And if last year's team could do it... well, the stage certainly seemed set this year for a whopping rendition of The Game.

What happened instead was a 14-0 ho- hummer with about as many thrills as a Life of Riley re-run, generous libations tucked away in countless cost pockets were about all that could keep the capacity crowd cheerful (and warm).

The situation proved just the opposite for the women's soccer team. The booters' season record was something of a disappointment; but when it came to the big games they showed their stuff and ended up taking third place at the nationals in Colorado.

After some sloppily-played losses, an unexpected 4-1 debacle at the hands of Princeton questions had been raised as to whether the Crimson actually deserved to compete in the National competition at all. But a couple of expert performances in Colorado Springs answered these question with a responding yes. Led by top scorers Sue St. Louis and Laurie Gregg, the booters posted hard-fought wins over Northern Colorado and North Carollna before succumbing to eventual champion Cortlandt State in the semis.

The men's soccer team also came away from the 1980 campeign smiling, finishing with a 10-4-1 final record. Sophomore Lance Ayrault led the squad in scoring, knocking in 12 goals and three assists. Veteran Mauro Keller-Sarmiento and team captain Michael Smith also developed into offensive stars, and provided strong leadership Smith this winter became the first Harvard soccer player since 1972 to be selected in the pro soccer draft.

Despite their improved record over last year's 6-7-2 marks the booters gave up any hopes of winning the Ivy title when they lost to underdog Princeton, 2-0, and failed to draw on NCAA tournament berth. Nevertheless, the season ended on a happy note, with the Crimson putting on one of its finest performances of the season, battling Yale head to head and coming out on top, 2-1.

The men's rugby club also ended up on the right side of Yale in its last contest of the fall season, drowning the ELIS 24-0. The ruggers powered by Charlie Bott, who scored 150 of the team's 247 points, ended up with a perfect 10-0 mark on the season.

The Quincy House intramural tacke-football squard proved unbeatable this season, blowing away all of its Harvard competition and then going on to plaster Yale's Berkely-Calhoun College, 20-6, during Yale weekend competition. Other houses followed Q-World's example; Winthrop, Kirkland, South and Currier rolled over their Eli counterparts. Harvard came off well during the weekend's intramural competition, capturing 21 of 28 contests in all.