Lacrosse Team Must Beat Bruins In Order to Stay in League Race

Any hopes which Harvard's lacrosse team has for an Ivy League championship depend upon an upset win today in Providence, where the Crimson plays league-leading Brown at 3 p.m.

Harvard is 1-1 in the Ivy League, while the Bruins are 3-0. But records can be deceiving. The Crimson's loss was to Cornell, probably the strongest Ivy team. Brown, meanwhile, has defeated two relatively weak teams-Penn and Princeton-and Yale.

The Bruins' most glaring problem right now is their inconsistency. They played poorly at Penn until rallying late in the contest for a 9-7 overtime win, and in the Yale game, they blew a 9-4 lead to triumph by only 9-8. The Elis' last four goals came within a nine minute stretch.

In fact, the Bruins resemble last spring's Harvard team, which was notorious for psychological letdowns. In the Harvard-Brown game last April, for example, the Crimson played a lethargic first half and fell behind, 6-2. After half-time, it rallied, but could not make up the difference and eventually lost, 10-6.

Brown is well stocked with talent, however. Though goalie Bill Abrams is a bit inexperienced, there are no real weaknesses, and the attack unit is probably a bit better than Cornell's, which was exceptional.

Obvious Balance

Bob Scalise and wing attackmen Rick Buck and Bob Anthony are all outstanding, and so far this season all three have scored at least 38 points. Anthony, a third-team All-American, is leading the team with 41, so there is obvious balance. The Crimson defense will not be able to key on any one man.

Another scoring threat is John Pearson, a speedy midfielder. Brown may isolate him with a Harvard player they consider slow and then try to feed him for a good shot on goalie John Cosentino.

Cach Cliff Stevenson said before the season started that his defense may be among the best in the country, but this seems to be a bit of an overstatement. Brown's unit lost two honorable mention All-Americans-goalie Roger Bolletin and Frank Scofield-because of graduation, and though the defense is still strong, there is no reason why Harvard's strong attack cannot score enough to win, provided, of course, that the rest of the Crimson plays well.

Harvard, at least, seems to be at a psychological high point. Its last three practices have been well attended and beneficial, and two wins over non-league opponents were encouraging. The team is well aware that a loss today would put a real damper on the season.

There is no injury problem, either. Both Consetino and sophomore attackman Nick Sullivan have recovered from ailments which bothered them last week.