Crimson Booters and Lions Face-off Today in 'Big Game'

In a season which may well see the changing of the guard at the top of Ivy League men's soccer, it should be the game.

Harvard vs. Columbia.

Columbia which has won or shared the Ivy title the past seven years, which advanced to the national finals in 1983, and which has lost just four league games in the past seven years.

And Harvard, which made it to the national quarterfinals last year, which returns almost every player from that squad, and which was the pre-season pick of league coaches to cop the Ivy title.

The Crimson will roll into the Big Apple this morning fresh off a season-opening 3-1 drubbing of MIT Wednesday.

So the battle which commences at 11 a.m. at Baker Field in Manhattan is a big deal, right?

Not so, says Harvard Coach Jape Shattuck. "If we built the Columbia game way up," the fourth-year coach explains, "then the Columbia game would be fun, but it'd be hard to have fun in all the others."

Not so, says Columbia Coach Dieter Ficken, who adds, "I doubt very much [we'll be ready for Harvard.] We have a lot of growing pains we have to correct."

Despite Ficken's formidable talent as a healer, last June left the Lion mentor with a trio of huge wounds that may prove fatal. All three of his All-Ivy performers from a year ago, including Player of the Year Solomon Gayle, have graduated, leaving Second Team members goalie Jeff Micheli and forward Dexter Skeene to anchor the squad.

The early going has been rough for the green Lions, who suffered a 4-2 defeat to an unheralded Fordham last Wednesday. The loss squared Columbia's record at 1-1 after the New Yorkers topped Loyola in the season-opener, 4-1.

Ficken predicts that "somewhere in early October" his team will jell and begin to play high-caliber soccer. Until then, however, Columbia will be vulnerable. And beatable.

Tame and Tame Again

With both teams at full readiness, Harvard would have a good shot at taming the Lion machine. At this early juncture, with most of the Crimson into their third and in many cases fourth seasons together, the Cantabs are the clear favorites.

With All-Ivy back Ian Hardington anchoring the defense, and Captain Lane Kenworthy the offense, Harvard boasts a potent and balanced attack.

The experience and cohesion of the starting unit was highlighted by the Crimson's second half effort against MIT--when sloppy play by a line-up combining starters and second-stringers gave the Engineers the impression they belonged on the same field with their uptown neighbors.

But the cohesion which was especially evident in Harvard's second goal--Kenworthy to Frank DiFalco to Paul Nicholas for the header--should give the Crimson a decided edge in today's contest.

And a Harvard victory would make the booters overwhelming favorites to capture their first Ivy crown since 1970, when the Crimson reached the national quarterfinals.

Nonetheless, Shattuck refuses to lend any unusual significance to the contest. The Harvard mentor was asked in the aftermath of the MIT contest if he felt that the game had been adequate preparation for the big game coming on Saturday.

"The next big game, you mean," he replied.