Laxmen Demolish Brown; Cruise to Fifth Straight

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--It wasn't enough for the Harvard men's lacrosse team to beat Brown 16-12; the laxmen had to toy with their opponents, never letting the game get out of the Bruins reach, yet never letting them quite catch up.

The Crimson notched its fifth straight victory and maintained a perfect record for the month of April yesterday afternoon in Providence.

The jaxmen jumped out to a 5-1 first quarter lead, scoring four goals in the final five minutes. Junior midfielder Rich Rainaldj broke a 1-1 tie when he took a pass from freshman Rob Hawley, who was being assaulted by two Brown defensemen, and then beat Brown goalie Marc Woodring with a blast to the left hand corner.

Two minutes later senior captain Mike Davis dashed downfield and dished the ball to freshman scoring machine Steve Bartenfelder just as Brown defenseman Mike McAleer's stick fell on his head Bartenfelder blasted the ball in the Brown twines, and Crimson forward Norm Forbush scored on the ensuing man-up situation, suddenly Harvard was-up 4-1. Bartenfelder capped off the quarter with the second of his game-high five goals.

The first half of the second quarter went much like the opening 15 minutes of play, but with 5:12 left in the period. Brown came alive. Tim Stevens took a feed from McAleer--who was standing behind the Crimson net--and slipped the ball by Harvard netminder Tim Pendergast to pull the Bruins within four Thirty seconds later Brown was back for more as the score stood at 7-4.

Yet, just when it looked as though Brown was going to get back in the game. Harvard closed the door, pumping in three goals in the final 1:34 to give it a very comfortable six-goal margin at the hall.

Too comfortable.

The Crimson did not play with nearly as much tenacity and was outscored 5-1 in the third stanza. The laxmen were outshot 17-8 and Brown picked up 15 ground balls to Harvard's five.

"We were overconfident," freshman Will Sollee explained. "We don't hustle until we get worried."

Harvard decided that it was time to get worried in the fourth quarter with its lead whittled down to two, 11-9. Not a minute too soon. Davis tallied his first goal of the afternoon with less than three minutes gone in the fourth stanza and, just 23 seconds later. Sollee put the ball in the net for the first time this season and once again the Crimson had breathing room.

Yet the Bruins would not roll over and die. They made one last desperate effort and pulled within three, 13-10, but the laxmen responded with three tallies of their own and finally clinched the victory.

The Crimson will put its winning streak on the line this Saturday when it faces a very tough Princeton squad. Harvard is now 3-1 in the Ivy League and still has an outside shot at the Ivy title. The Crimson must win its remaining Ivy games with Princeton and Dartmouth, and Cornell must lose one of its remaining contests.