Soccermen Drop Princeton After Lagging First Period

Down 1-0 at the half, the Harvard soccer team completely dominated the last two periods and beat Princeton. 3-1, at the Business School field Saturday.

Captain Charlie Thomas, Felix Adedeji, Norie Harrower and Emanuel Ekama were all on the bench at the start of the game with injuries, and coach Bruce Munro was hoping that he wouldn't have to use them.

Injuries Hurt

But, without these key players, the Crimson was unable to mount a sustained attack in the first half. The defense retreated in front of Princeton's long ball offense. Harvard's line was overly cautious and unable to get passing combinations started.

With less than a minute left in the first period. Princeton's Tony Caine capitalized on several Crimson mistakes to score his eighth goal of the season. At halftime the Tigers were riding high on hopes of an upset.

At the start of the third period Munro abandoned his original game plan and put Adedeji in at left wing. Even though Adedeji was playing at half strength due to a pulled groin. Harvard immediately gained control of the game.

Midway into the period Munro sent Thomas in at inside, and within three minutes Harvard had put the game away with two goals.

Confidence

"Just seeing Thomas coming onto the field gave the rest of the team the confidence they needed." Munro said after the game. "With Charlie and Felix out there the defense had confidence that once they got the ball up to the line it would stay there for awhile. So they moved up and cut off Princeton's attack at midfield," he said.

Phil Kydes scored twice on head shots within two minutes. In the outstanding play of the game. Kydes drilled a corner kick pass from Chris Papagianis into the upper left corner to tie the score.

Kydes' second goal was set up by a cross from linkman Russ Bell. He hit the ball off of a deflection, and the shot had so much spin that it got past the goalie even after hitting the ground in front of him.

Harvard's third goal came midway through the fourth period when Adedeji scored on a wing cross from Papagianis.

After Adedeji and Thomas left the game, the Crimson continued to dominate with short passing plays on the line and aggressive defense at midfield.

With two away games at Tufts and Brown this week. Munro is still very concerned about injuries. "Felix and Charlie could get through a whole game without touching off their injuries, or they could get knocked out in the first five minutes." Munro said. Soccer Standings   W  L  T  Pts Penn  5  0  0  10 Cornell  4  1  0  8 Harvard  4  1  0  8 Yale  2  2  1  5 Columbia  2  3  0  4 Brown  1  2  2  4 Princeton  0  4  1  1 Dartmouth  0  5  0  0