Brown Smashes Crimson J.V. Booters

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Harvard's junior varsity soccer team dropped its fifth straight match of the season here yesterday, losing to Brown, 7-1.

The skies were clear as the two teams met to begin play, but the heavy rains of the previous two days worked to Harvard's detriment. The Crimson booters, lacking a sure footing on the wet and mushy surface, were unable to maneuver quickly enough to keep the Brown attackers at bay.

The only Harvard booter who performed well on the marshy field was Rob Finley, who gleefully drenched coaches, players and bystanders on his sweeps downfield. With the Brown players as reluctant as the Crimson to battle for a loose ball kicked into a flooded area of the field, Finley had little trouble turning the tide his way. Unfortunately, Finley's command of the waterways wasn't enough to overcome the inconsistent play of the rest of the team.

The deck was stacked against Harvard well before play began. With one of coach Seamus Malin's key defensive players, Dave Winton, put out of action by a broken leg suffered last week at the Gordon match, and with several other key players, including goalkeeper Jim McKennan, playing in the varsity match at Penn, the Brown booters had a formidable edge over Harvard before the two teams stepped onto the field.

Spurts and Gushes

At first, the Brown offense kept the ball in Harvard territory for painfully long, taxing goalie John Kiernan and the Harvard defense to their limits. But as the half progressed, the Harvard booters warmed up to the play, and countered with drives deep into Brown turf. But the crucial difference between the two offensive units was the sporadic nature of the Harvard drives--the offensive push seemed to come in spurts and gushes, contrasted with the intense and consistent quality of the Brown attacks.

Goalkeeper John Kiernan was throwing himself into his task with heart and soul as he tried to limit the Brown offense to only a few goals. For a while, it looked as if he would succeed. But after eleven minutes of play, Brown's Ramsey swept through the Crimson defense, kicking a goal through Harvard's Andy Berg, Charlie Hirschler and Kiernan. Three minutes after that Sanchez booted in a similar shot for Brown, to the renewed amazement of the trio of Berg, Hirschler and Kiernan.

Harvard's only point of the game was a fluke shot by Alex Danso, with an assist by the Brown goalkeeper. Danso drove in toward the net, where the goalie was readying for a save. But when the goalie attempted to jump on Danso's kick to prevent its reaching the net, he fell onto his back and the shot spun off him into the net, sparing Harvard yet another shutout.

It was another twenty minutes before Brown took another point from the hard-working Crimson defense. This time, when Kiernan came out away from the net for a save, he missed the ball completely, stopping a Brown player's foot instead of a ball. He had the wind knocked out of him, but decided to continue playing.

Going into the second half with Brown over Harvard, 3-1, the Harvard squad's performance was all downhill. Early in the half Alex de Cholnoky kicked to Jonathan Conley, who had a clear shot on goal. Conley's shot went wide.

The play typified the day's action: Harvard would set up for a good clear shot which would inevitably go wide.