M. Soccer Still in Ivy League Title Hunt

The Ivy League's big guns stayed hot last week, tightening the race for the League crown and supplying some high drama along the way.

Ivy frontrunner Harvard (10-1-0 overall, 4-1-0 Ivy), ranked ninth in the coaches' poll, dispatched a struggling Princeton team (4-6-2, 0-2-2) in a 2-0 win at Princeton Saturday night. Junior forward Tom McLaughlin, the league's leading scorer, maintained his prolific ways, netting the game-winner in the 22nd minute of this emotional, rather physical matchup.

McLaughlin, who has notched a point in all but one of Harvard's games this year, helped the team to its 10th straight win, as senior midfielder Kevin Silva also scored and the Harvard defense proved dominant.

The Tigers, winless in the league and owners of a sub-.500 mark, tried to out-tough the Crimson, but were met with little success as even a raucous crowd couldn't stifle the Crimson.

Meanwhile, at Dartmouth, 19th-ranked Cornell (9-2-1, 3-1-1) pulled down a crucial road win, as senior midfielder Rob Elliott earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors. Elliott assisted on the game-tying goal, then nailed an overtime game-winner from 30 feet out, in a frenzied finish which saw Cornell goalie Hemant Sharma stop several breakaways. Cornell dealt Dartmouth (5-6-1, 2-1-1) its first league loss of the season, erasing a heroic two-goal performance from Dartmouth's Methembe Ndlovu. The Big Red in all likelihood squashed the Big Green's dreams of an Ivy title, as Elliott's 17th career assist made him Cornell's all-time leader.

Cornell's come-from-behind win set the stage for the weekend's key matchup, Dartmouth at Harvard. A Crimson win would eliminate the Big Green from title contention and would clear the last hurdle to an Ivy championship, but a Dartmouth triumph would keep its fragile hopes alive.

The Crimson needs wins in its two remaining Ivy games-Saturday against Dartmouth and November 9th against Brown to wrap up the crown and an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Barring that, Harvard's strong overall record and high national ranking make an at-large bid likely. The Big Red, for its part, must win Saturday against Brown and November 9th at Yale, then hope for a Crimson loss or tie to snatch the title and the bid. Like Harvard, Cornell seems poised for an at-large bid should the League championship elude it.

Elsewhere in the Ancient Eight, Penn (5-5-1, 3-2-0) beat Lafayette 3-2 and shut out Brown 3-0, making a late push for the top of the standings. For the second consecutive week, a Quaker freshman secured Ivy League Rookie of the Week distinction--goalie Michael O'Connor made seven saves against the Bears (6-3-3, 0-2-2), en route to his third shutout of the year.

The shutout was Penn's third straight win, while Brown remained winless in the Ivy after an encouraging 5-2 win over New Hampshire earlier in the week.

Penn faced Temple yesterday and meets Yale Saturday, while Brown travels to Ithaca to square off against Cornell on Saturday.

Yale (6-5-1, 2-2-0) salvaged the week with a 3-2 overtime victory over basement-dwelling Columbia (6-5-2, 0-3-2) on Saturday as freshman forward Jac Gould scored the deciding goal. Yale had dropped a 3-1 OT affair at Hartford earlier in the week, but with three Ivy games remaining, Yale has an outside chance at the title, and travels to Penn on Saturday.

Columbia, which had beaten Hofstra 2-0, took solace in the strong play of senior Michael Payne, who recorded two goals and an assist in the week's action. The Lions host Princeton Saturday in a purely academic contest.

With just two weeks to go in the regular season, the Ivy League championship is Harvard's to win. The Crimson finds itself in the enviable position of controlling its own destiny, but must hold off the charging Big Red to secure the bid and hit the postseason running.