Bruins Dump Booters

With a minute and a half left in the game. Brown forward Debbie Ching took a pass from teammate Frances Fusco in the corner and made a perfect shot over the reach of Crimson netminder Janet Judge, to give the Bruins a 2-1 victory.

With her goal, Ching also dashed any hopes the Harvard women's soccer team had of earning a piece of the Ivy title. The loss to Brown lowered the Crimson's Ivy record to 3-2 (6-5-2 overall), and knocked it out of contention for first place.

Thanks to its victory Saturday at the Business School field. Brown will now share the Ivy crown with Princeton as each has one Ivy League loss. This is the first time in four years that Harvard has not won or shared the championship, and the first time since 1978 that Harvard will not go on to post-season competition.

The game was typical of the way the booters have played all season. They controlled most of the midfield play and in general outplayed the Bruins, but once near the Brown goal, the Crimson strikers were tentative and didn't finish off their plays.

Brown, on the other hand, seemed to want the victory a bit more, and got off a shot each time they brought the ball downfield.

As Harvard Coach Bob Scalise said after the game, "I think we played hard and well, but Brown just seemed hungrier."

The first half of the contest featured good overall play on the part of both squads. Brown had a few chances earlier, and the Crimson challenged Bruin goaltender Alex Smith just before intermission. However, neither team got on the scoreboard and when the halftime horn blew, the score was knotted, 0-0

It was Harvard that eventually broke the scoreless tie With 2-49 gone in the second half, Kelly Landry sent the ball flying into the Brown net over the heads of the Brown defenders who had lined up to block the indirect kick

Ten minutes later Ching got her first goal of the morning. After a flurry of shots at the Crimson net. Brown forward Gretchen Orr blasted the ball at the lower left hand corner of the goal Judge made a fine save but Ching snatched up the rebound and made a perfect shot into the center of the net to tie the game at one

Then at the 43:29 mark Ching notched her final tally, converting on the corner kick. "Amy Robinson made a beautiful pass over the line of defenders," Ching said. "I just trapped it and put it into the open net."

THE NOTEBOOK: While many fans were on hand from all over Massachusetts and Rhode Island, one particular soccer fan made a particularly long journey to view the Harvard-Brown matchup. Yes, E. T., everyone's favorite extra-terrestrial, and equipped with his "Brown Go Home" sign and a basket full of Reese's Pieces, was on hand for the first half. However, once the first stanza ended, he resumed the more earthly form of 9-year-old Dave Field, brother of Harvard's Debbie Field.