Varsity Soccer Team Battles Penn To 2-2 Tie in Hard-Fought Match

In one of the fastest, roughest, and most exciting soccer games ever played at Harvard, Pennsylvania and the Crimson battled to a 2-2 standoff last Saturday. The tie kept the varsity in first place in the Ivy League with a 2-0-1 record.

The game went into double overtime, but neither team was able to break through in the extra ten minutes of playing time. Roger Tuckerman, the Crimson's center forward, scored both of the varsity's goals in the space of a minute and a half in the opening period while Al Schroth and and Tom Davis accounted for the two Quaker scores.

This was a most important game for the Crimson as Penn is probably the strongest team it will have to face in the Ivy League. The varsity could not have been in this contest if it played the brand of soccer it had in the past two weeks, and it was therefore particularly heartening to see the Crimson rise to the occasion.

The roughness of the game and the strict Ivy League ruling on substitutes (only five allowed) put a real strain on both coaches' manpower as the game progressed. Bill Rapp, the varsity center-half, suffered a deep cut in his cheek midway through the second period, but was able to return soon after the half, while Penn lost the services of its outside-left Bob Simonof, who broke his ankle in the second quarter.

The game was just two minutes old when Tuckerman got his first goal converting the rebound from a shot by John Hedreen. A minute and a half later, Tuckerman worked his way into a pileup in front of the Quaker goal, stole the ball from a Penn fullback and banged it by the surprised goalie.

At this point, another goal by the varsity would probably have put them out of reach, but it was Penn that did the scoring as Schroth broke through the Crimson defense and scored on a hard shot to the left hand corner.

All through the second period, the play kept at the same high pitch. The referees had a particularly busy afternoon as did the coaches, who did their best to rest their personnel with their meager substitutions.

The big Penn fullbacks, especially Bob Kalmy, were very effective, kicking well with both feet and slowing down the Crimson attack. As for the Crimson defense, Lanny Keyes played his best game of the year as did Tom Bagnoli, the varsity goalie. Keyes saved the Crimson twice in the second half when he cleared two loose balls bouncing in front of an empty Crimson goal.

Penn scored once more in the third period and from then on, the game was a succession of minor heart attacks. Both teams would trade rushes down the field, just missing the tie-breaking goal, at times by inches. The most exciting of these came in the last ten seconds of regulation time whn Bagnoli made a wonderful save on a high shot. The ball hit the crossbar and bounded down right in front of the goal. A Penn forward tore in and as Bagnoli lay helplessly on the ground headed the ball at the goal. The ball just cleared the nets and the game went into its fruitless overtime.