Soccer Forwards Come to Life In 6-2 Victory Over Wesleyan

It takes a long time to mold a soccer team out of eleven individuals, but that goal appeared a little more attainable yesterday, when the Harvard booters outclassed Wesleyan, 6-2, in Middletown, Connecticut.

The forwards, particularly junior inside Jaime Vargas who scored a career-high three goals, looked respectable for the first time. Last year's high scorer Scott Robertson also played well, setting up Vargas's first tally after putting in one of his own.

Defense

But the defense, as Coach Bruce Munro said after the game, "still needs some work." Bespectacled senior fullback Dave Wright turned in another strong showing, but his running-mates at fullback, Bob Gray and Hilary Worthen, looked weak in spots. But Gray is only a sophomore and Worthen is still not fully recovered from a recent injury, so by the time the Ivy schedule begins a week from Saturday, both should be in better shape.

The first Harvard goal was a gift. Diminutive inside Bruce Detora, looking for a shot out in front, was fouled by an over-eager Wesleyan fullback, and the Crimson was awarded a penalty kick. Lutz Hoeppner, who normally takes the bonus shots, wasn't playing at the time, so center half Richie Hardy drew the call. Hardy, whose nonchalance is at times overwhelming, almost half-heartedly kicked the ball goalward, but it sailed past the goalie for the first Crimson tally in a week.

In A Minute

The Vargas-Robertson combination went to work in the second period, accounting for two goals in less than a minute. First Robertson, cutting in from his left wing post, took a solid pass from the little Colombian, and drilled it into the nets. Then, reversing the roles, Vargas scored off an assist from Robertson, and Harvard left the field at halftime, proudly holding a 3-0 lead.

Strong goal-tending by Dick Locksley, playing for the injured John Axten, contained several Wesleyan threats in the third quarter as the hosts came out of the intermission raring to go. The Crimson fullbacks began to tire, though, and Wesleyan got on the scoreboard midway in the third period.

Vargas went wild in the final quarter, singlehandedly making mincemeat out of the enemy defense to score two more goals. The international duo of Ahmed Yehia (Rolle, Switz.) and Lutz Hoeppner (Bombay, India) combined for the sixth and final Harvard goal. Yehia, the starting-center forward, drilled a pass to his right, and Hoeppner was there to get it, and kick a twenty-footer past the goalie.

The Gun

Wesleyan tallied again right before the gun.

Abi Azikiwe, Hardy, and captain Joe Gould, the starting halfbacks, who will most likely go sixty minutes or close to it in the majority of the Ivy contests, looked good throughout. The only worry at halfback, it seems, is that one of the three might get injured, a problem that has plagued the booters in the early going and one that could prove costly as the season wears on.