Stickmen Frighten League Champs

For 45 minutes Saturday, Harvard's team outplayed Cornell, the winner of 18 straight games. But a lacrosse game is 60 minutes long, and Cornell used those extra 15 minutes to the fullest, as they tallied six times to pull out a 10-8 victory over the Crimson.

The setback at Cornell was the twelfth consecutive Ivy League loss for Harvard, but the improved showing of the entire squad gave hope that the end of that losing streak may be in sight.

The shifts in the midfield lines made last week by Coach Bruce Munro worked well Saturday. Midfielders scored six of Harvard's eight goals, and the first line of Alan Timberlake, Marty Cain, and Jim Kilkowski accounted for five of those.

Timberlake, whose promotion to the first midfield gave it some needed additional muscle, turned in his best showing of the season -- he tossed in two goals and assisted on another. Cain scored three times Saturday and raised his team-leading point total to 12.

Each team scored in the first minute of the game with Cain ripping the nets for Harvard after only 27 seconds.

Ball-control and teamwork gave the Crimson four more tallies in the second quarter and a 5-4 halftime edge over the defending Ivy League titleholders.

Keith Hutchinson's expert moves in front of the goal, and strong passing and shooting by Cain and Timberlake paid off with the four goals. Can scored two, Hutchinson one, and sophomore attack man Jim Anderson -- last year's freshman high-scorer -- threw in the other.

After an unassisted goal by Timberlake two minutes into the third quarter, Cornell took over the action and dominated play for the rest of the period, scoring four times. Two quick tallies at the beginning of the fourth period spelled disaster for Harvard, and broke the Crimson's try for an upset.

A Harvard surge late in the game -- goals by Timberlake and Charley Ames -- was too little too late, as the Crimson stickmen couldn't recover from their third quarter letdown in time to pull off the victory.