Undefeated Harvard Soccer Team Trounces Yale, 3-0, at New Haven

NEW HAVEN, CONN., Nov. 21-The undefeated Harvard soccer team picked up a cheap goal midway through the first quarter and waltzed in from there to overwhelm an outclassed Yale squad, 3-0, today in icy New Haven.

Inside right Phil Kydes took a pass in front of the Yale goal and bounced it through the hands of Eli goalie George Lowe to put the Crimson booters on the scoreboard with a bit over 13 minutes to play in the opening period. After that, the game was out of Yale's reach.

One Yale fan, grimacing after the first goal, said that Steve Greenberg, "Yale's regular goalie, would have stopped Kydes" shot.

All-American

Greenberg, a second-team All-American last season, has been injured twice this year, breaking a wrist, and, most recently, a rib, and Lowe has been filling in for him. But even Greenberg wouldn't have been able to stop the other two Harvard goals, which broke the game wide open in the third quarter.

The first one was again Kydes doing. The stocky sophomore took a beautiful centering pass from Charlie Thomas, who had brought the goalie out to guard a shot from him, and headed the ball into an open net.

Blew Them Both

Yale kept trying to make it up, and had two good opportunities in the third quarter, one off a corner kick and the other off a penalty kick, but the Elis blew them both. A fine play by Crimson goalie Bill Meyers off the penalty kick preserved the shutout, Harvard's eighth of the season.

Fullbacks Chris Wilmot and Bob Gray did a great job on defense throughout the game, keeping the pressure off Meyers, who seemed to be having trouble warming his hands on the cold day.

Superb Forwards

But today's game, as has the entire Crimson season, belonged to the superb forward line. It's been the sophomores-Kydes and Thomas-who have made this team a success, and they put on quite a show this afternoon. The final goal of the game, scored by Thomas with an assist from junior inside Solomon Gomez, was ample testimony to the skill of the Harvard forwards.

Gomez appeared to be in trouble about 15 feet in front of the Yale goal, but managed to dribble free, hit Thomas with a short pass, and then watched his team-mate fake out a couple of Elis before booming the ball into the right side of the net. That one came late in the third quarter, and, from then on, the Crimson merely toyed with Yale.

Slow Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter, with both teams getting colder and the sky getting progressively darker, was not of the highest quality. Thomas narrowly missed a goal late in the period, losing out on a good save by Lowe, and Gomez had two fairly clear head shots that he missed a bit before that.

The real excitement in the final period, however, came when Gomez was thrown out of the game for disputing a call by the referee.

As described to this reporter by a drunk Harvard alumnus on the sidelines, a Yale player fell and put on a big act, claiming he had been tripped by Gomez. The alumnus claimed that Gomez never touched the Yalie, and understandably disagreed with the ref. Some pushing ensued, and Gomez was thrown out.

Harvard had already clinched the Ivy League title before today's game, but it's always nice to beat Yale. The Crimson will play again on Monday, at home against Brown, in the second round of the NCAA regional tournament. Harvard beat Brown last weekend, but the Bruin should be tough on Monday.

Today's game marked the demise of another record and lengthened one mark the Crimson already had set. Meyer's eighth shutout broke the record of seven, and the team's twelfth victory increased its winning streak to 12.