Men Booters Rumble Over Brandeis, 8-0

Chad Reilly finally had a chance to prove that his success in goal last year was no fluke.

Derek Mills netted a pair of goals to show that last year's leading scorer isn't going to let a summer knee injury stop him this season.

Dave Kramer scored three times in less than six minutes to hint that the loss of star forward John Catliff to graduation hasn't left as big a hole in the Harvard line-up as some feared.

And Crimson fans got to see the men's soccer team back in action at Ohiri Field, as Harvard (now 3-0-1) rolled past Brandeis, 8-0, in the booters' windy Saturday homeopener.

Reilly made only two saves to earn a shutout in his first start of the season, as the Judges fired a mere eight shots on goal.

"I didn't have a whole lot to do," admitted Reilly, who became the squad's starting goalie last year after Stephen Hall was forced to the sidelines with an illness. But Hall--who has a 0.66 goals against average in three starts this season--regained the job this fall, and, according to Reilly, "still holds the starting position right now."

Mills made his second appearance of the season a memorable one, nailing the game's final two goals with the same fancy footwork that earned him the top spot on the Crimson scoring list in 1986.

But Mills was not the only sophomore to make his mark.

In his first season of varsity play, Kramer stunned Brandeis with three quick goals midway throught the first half.

Kramer kicked off his hat trick performance with an open shot in front of goal off a feed from midfielder Paul Baverstock. He followed with a cross shot into the right corner of the net, and cleaned up with a short bump off a Brandeis defender less than two minutes later.

By then, the Crimson was leading, 4-0, and Harvard Coach Mike Getman decided to lighten up the Judges' sentence and pull Kramer for the rest of the game.

"Dave's been playing this well all the time in practice," Getman said.

Kramer already may be playing with the best. Kramer, together with Mills, sophomore Nick D'Onofrio and senior Ken Rouff, compose what Getman believes is "the best attack team in the country."

The Judges went down under the attack early, as Kramer's three scores, an early goal by Baverstock and a head shot into the corner by Robert Bonnie gave the Crimson a 5-0 lead at the close of a wind-aided first half.

When a quick drive up the middle by junior Ramy Rajballie minutes into the second half upped the Crimson's advantage to six goals, Getman took the opportunity to put in his second string.

"Brandeis left a lot of field open in the midfield," Kramer said. "The defenders weren't playing too tight and it left a lot of room."

Harvard fired off 24 shots and Brandeis goalie Rich Heartquist made eight saves, as most of the action took place far downfield from Reilly and the Harvard goal.

"A lot of quickness in the midfield makes us hard to defend," Getman said. "The ability to put the ball in goal is definitely our strong point."

The Crimson hosts Hartwick at Ohiri Field Saturday in its next contest. Harvard shut out the Warriors, 2-0, in the NCAA quarter-finals last November to avenge a 3-1 earlier-season loss.