Booters Vie for Title at Brown

If you're going down to Providence today, make sure you get to Aldrich-Dexter Field by 11 a.m. If you do, you will see Harvard battle Brown for the Ivy League championship in what will be the meanest, most exciting, and best soccer game of the year.

The Harvard booters boast a 7-1 record overall and are 4-1 in Ivy play. They completely outclassed Dartmouth and Princeton in their last two home games. And today they will be at full strength for the first time since October 9.

Brown will enter the championship bout with a 9-0-1 record. They are 5-0 In Ivy play, including a 3-1 victory over Cornell, the team that blemished Harvard's record.

Two years ago Harvard went down to Brown in exactly the same situation. The Bruins were undefeated; Harvard had won all its games after an early-season loss to Penn.

Five thousand Brown fans screamed for the win that would clinch the Ivy title, but they were disappointed. Chris Ohiri headed in the game's lone goal in the fourth quarter and Harvard gained a tie for the crown with the Brownies.

Brown shared the title last year also --with Dartmouth. Playing in Cambridge, the Bruins edged Harvard 2-1, and the Crimson came in third in the league standings.

This year the Brown soccer dynasty wants undisputed possession of the championship. Only Harvard can stop them.

And the Crimson is up to it. Harvard's only loss came a month ago, in a game in which half the team was hurt and the other half was sleeping. The players haven't repeated that performance since, and there is no possibility that Brown will catch them in a similar slump.

"We've been looking forward to this one all season," Captain Bill Kerstetter says, and the only danger is that the Harvard players might be too keyed-up.

The Harvard lineup will be bolstered by the return to action of goalie Nat Bowditch and center halfback Chuck Okigwe. It is still uncertain whether both have regained top form after their long lay-offs; but if Coach Bruce Munro thinks they're ready to go, he will start the two, both of whom starred in the classic battle two years ago.

Even if Bowditch is too rusty too start, Harvard will be well set in the goal with Richie Hammond. The junior netminder is unscored upon this year in the seven quarters he has played against Columbia, Cornell, Penn, and Princeton. It was his injury at Ithaca as much as any single factor that cost Harvard its undefeated status.

Fred Akuffo has done an exceptional job of filling Okigwe's shoes at halfback, and Munro's choice to start there will be between two of the best in the league.

If Okigwe can play, Akuffo will return to his right inside position. The rest of the forward line reads as it has all year: Dudley Blodget at right wing, Jim Saltonstall at center forward, Hugh Polk at inside left, and Charlie Njoku, contending for the Ivy League individual scoring crown, at left wing.

Kere'etter and Andy Kydes man the halfback flanks and fullbacks Tony Marks and Karl Lunkenheimer round out the outstanding defense.

Two years ago, Munro used only 13 players against Brown, substituting sparingly at insides. It will probably be the same story today, though reserve insides Dave Taft, Lutz Hoeppner, and Bill Schaefer have all seen a lot of action during the season.

How good will Harvard have to play to give the Brown its first loss? "If we play as well as we did against Princeton and Dartmouth. I think we'll do all right," said Munro.

Brown's play this year is not so imposing as its undefeated status. Its first four Ivy wins all came by one-goal margins, and its 1-0 victories over Princeton and Dartmouth pale when compared to Harvard's 2-0 and 6-1 scores.

A serious blot on the Bruin ledger is a 3-3 tie with Springfield.

Brown relies on the best defense in the league and a fast-breaking offense. It is the only Ivy team with individual stars to match the Crimson's impressive lineup, which includes four 1964 All-Ivy selections

The game will be low-scoring, and the game will be rough. There will be at least 5000 venomous Brown fans screaming for the Ivy championship.

But Harvard should disappoint them once again go ahead next week to polish off Yale for at least half of the Ivy League crown.