A Touch of Garlic

It was a bittersweet ending to a weekend. Football may rank as the more publicized sporting event, but Penn surely came out on top of the weekend exchange of a football loss for a soccer victory. For while Penn's football team appears headed toward less than mediocrity, the Quakers' soccer squad must now rate as one of the top teams in the nation, and the front-runner in the Ivy League race.

Defeats at the hands of St. Louis and Hartwick were easy to take for Harvard fans because we could picture these schools as the "Big Ten" of soccer, schools that nurtured and recruited national champions from the grade school level. Somehow Harvard was the "folk hero" when the Crimson faced the uniform blue sport coats, insignias, and crew cuts of St. Louis in San Jose, Cal., two years ago. In each of the losses to St. Louis and Hartwick the margin of victory had been a mere goal. Defeat was easily rationalized as a bad bounce or unfortunate breaks.

But Friday night's defeat was a loss, pure and simple. The fourth quarter of a soccer game is usually punctuated by several desperation, dangerous rushes. Yet, by the fourth quarter Friday, it was painfully apparent that it was only a matter of time until Penn's fans went wild with victory. You couldn't put the blame for the loss on a bad break or rotten luck. The Crimson was outplayed, on defense and offense.

Loss Bad

There's no use praising a loss, and it's ridiculous to maintain that the team is "better for it." A win would have been good; a loss was bad. But still, there is a good reason to sit down now and convince oneself that little has changed despite the shattered image of national ranking.

Penn is not a shoe-in for the Ivy title, for the Quakers still must face Cornell. But even if the Ivy championship is lost, the season is far from ended. Probably the players would be the first to admit that the Ivy title has left this team dissatisfied with itself. It is the national title that is in the back of Harvard's mind, and that goal has not been affected--yet.

Two years ago Penn and Harvard met before 6000 fans, and the Quakers saw their egos crushed, 3-1. Penn was so shaken by its loss that it stumbled to a 1-2-1 record for the remainder of the season.

Frustrating Defeat

Harvard, too, has suffered far more than just two losses in its NCAA playoff defeat. Last year's game at Hartwick was as tense on the sidelines as it was on the field and the frustrating defeat wore on the nerves of the team. The atmosphere on the ride back to Cambridge stimulated hostilities that were not eased until late in April.

The talk of the effects of artificial turf and night play should subside. The national championship will be played in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on December 28. That means that the lucky semifinalists will meet on an artificial surface, and maybe even at night. Penn's victory can't be rationalized away; it has to be accepted.

But the real effect of the loss on the team can not be considered until this Saturday. If the Crimson doesn't dwell on its misfortunes and accepts the loss, it should come out ready to prove itself against Princeton. The District I playoff invitations will be announced early in November, perhaps before the Brown game. So if Harvard dominates the Tigers Saturday, a whole new season will begin--and this one will be for national instead of local prestige. A two or more goal win over Princeton could nullify the important effects of last weekend.