Booters Must Defeat First Place Brown To Remain in Contention for Ivy Crown

Harvard's soccer team has its last chance for the Ivy League title today when it tackles first place Brown on the Business School Field.

Ironically, the booters, who had seemingly lost any shot at the Ivy crown with their 2-0 loss to Penn two weeks ago, were knocked back into the race by Penn's loss to Yale last Saturday.

Yale's upset dropped Penn into a tie for second place with Harvard and gave Brown undisputed possession of first place. With the league so tightly bunched--only four points separate six teams--the Crimson cannot afford to lose to, or even tie, the Bruins.

Bruins Favored

But the odds do not favor Harvard. Brown, Ivy League champion for five consecutive years and New England champion for three consecutive years, has lost only one game this season. Again it was Penn which was the spoiler as the Quakers snapped the Bruins' 26-game winning streak in Ivy play. That was six weeks ago and they have resumed their winning ways, rolling over all their Ivy opponents.

Brown co-captain Ben Brewster is the biggest scoring threat for the Bruins. Brewster leads the Ivy League in scoring with eight points, four goals and four assists. Ssebazza Herman and Dave Herman, who rank fifth in the scoring standings, are two other stars of the Bruin offense.

Harvard's prospects against Brown appear dismal. Coach Bruce Munro admits that, with three starters "doubtful," the booters "couldn't be in worse shape."

Pete Bogovich, Scott Robertson, and Bob Gray all started the Princeton game with minor ailments and finished with serious injuries.

Injuries Hurt Crimson

Bogovich, who had twisted his knee against Penn, wrenched his other knee and sprained his ankle against Princeton. Gray and Robertson both suffered seriously sprained ankles early in the action and had to leave the game.

Center forward Bogovich's absence, which Munro says is almost definite, will deprive Harvard of its top scoring threat. He scored two goals last Saturday against the Tigers, raising his season total to 15, just two short of the Harvard record.

Munro plans to stay with the 5-3-2 offense that he returned to for the Princeton game. The 4-2-4 attack, which the Crimson used with great success against Cornell, is ineffective for injury plagued Harvard. Injuries to linkmen Richie Hardy and Jaime Vargas, who still is not fully recovered from his muscle pull, forced Munro to switch last week; the probable loss of Bogovich, Robertson, and Gray compels him to remain with the 5-3-2.

For all Harvard's woe, stalwarts like goalie Richie Locksley say that Brown is not as formidable as in former years. Locksley will have a long afternoon to find out.