Stands Brought To Ohiri

Ohiri Field is expected to be filled to the brim for this Sunday's men's soccer playoff game between Harvard and Boston University.

A problem, however, remained unsolved: where was everyone going to go?

Learning its lesson from the Harvard-Brown game, when scores of fans packed the meager bleachers and were displaced onto the field, the Harvard Athletic Department is planing ahead for Sunday's NCAA Tournament first-round game.

Metal bleachers will be moved in from the football stadium and other places, and the seating capacity of Ohiri Field will be increased by almost 300 percent to 5600 seats.

"Now there's going to be seating," said John Veneziano, Director of Sports Information. "It'll hold about the same amount of people, but now everyone will have a good vantage point."

B.U. holds a record of 18-0-1 and is ranked number one in the nation. Harvard, meanwhile is 5-8-2 and is unranked.

In the Brown game, a 2-0 Harvard victory which earned the Crimson an automatic bid to the tournament, all of the bleacher seats were immediately taken up and rowdy fans were pressed against the touchlines.

After Harvard scored its goals, the joyous supporters pushed onto the field more and more, and the umpire had to allow Brown players to take throw-ins five yards into the field.

Except for the lucky ones to get there early and snatch a seat, the only way to see any of the action was to worm one's way through the crowd to the front row.

But if all goes according to plan, none of these things should be a problem on Sunday.