Laxmen Put Crunch On Post

After losing last year's top four point scorers--including All-American Tom Corcoran--the Harvard men's lacrosse team had a big problem: how to score.

After losing first-team All-Ivy goalie Mark Vita to graduation, the Crimson had another problem: how to stop the other team from scoring.

But the Crimson managed to solve both problems Saturday, posting a 12-5 win over C.W. Post at Ohiri Field.

Senior Mike Bergman--who started in net for the Crimson for three seasons before taking last year off--had 12 saves for Harvard. Bergman was named Ivy League Rookie of Year his first season.

"Mike's back and sharper than ever," Harvard Coach Bob Scalise said.

But Bergman wasn't the only laxmen to return to the field in style.

Sophomore Brad Raymond kicked off his season with three goals, while classmate Steve Lux recorded two goals and three assists. A new face, junior transfer Chris Garvey from West Point Military Academy, added two goals and an assist.

Scalise attributed the victory to two areas: faceoffs and defense.

"Controlling the faceoffs was really a key for us," Scalise said. Senior Co-Captain Ben Nye, who takes the faceoffs for the Crimson, won 19 of the 23 confrontations.

The Harvard defense, a unit that might have longed for the stellar stickwork of graduated All-Ivy defenseman Ralph Hartman, not only held Division-I C.W. Post to five goals, but generated some excitement on the offensive end of the field as well.

Two Crimson defensemen, Chris Bentley and Rich Van den Broek, effectively moved the ball up the sidelines to score goals of their own.

"The defense did an excellent job of clearing the ball," Scalise said. "They got the ball up the field and Post failed to pick them up. We were able to capitalize on their not getting the second slide."

THE NOTEBOOK: The game was originally scheduled to be held at C.W. Post, but four inches of snow on Long Island forced a last-minute change of location...Last season, Harvard dropped its opener to Post, 13-11...Laxmen Nick Nero, Martin Garcia and Rob Griffith chipped in a goal apiece to round out the Crimson scoring...Harvard took 50 shots to Post's 31...The Crimson opens its Ivy slate against Cornell Saturday.