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The freshman soccer team, sparked by two goals in the second quarter, blanked Andover Academy by a score of 3-0 yesterday at Andover.
With four starters benched by Coach Scalise for skipping practice on Monday, the play was ragged in the early going Scalise put the players into the game gradually.
Scalise said he let them play to the same extent that their excuses were valid.
"It's like when John Havlicek comes off the bench," Scalise said last night. "Automatically everyone starts playing better."
Lorenzo diBonneventura and Tim Carey banged home two goals by the half, and diBonneventura, assisted by Mike Kennedy, iced the game 30 seconds into the second half with a goal that Scalise said "totally frustrated Andover." Further Crimson tallies were thwarted by the Andover goalkeeper.
Scalise was especially pleased by the game, feeling that the team "is really beginning to jell now."
The win ups the freshmen record to 5-3, with only Harvard and Yale's junior varsities left to play.
The Crimson booters suffered one-goal losses to Exeter Academy and Brown's JV, and a 4-2 decision versus Amherst.
"If we had played Exeter later in the season, we would have beaten them handily," Scalise said yesterday.
Scalise would also like to play the Brown game again. On top 2-0 midway through the game, the Crimson lapsed for six minutes in the second half. Brown capitalized, taking the contest, 3-2. "Except for those six minutes," Scalise reflected, "the game was ours."
The second-year freshman coach said that his team plays soccer better than past freshman teams he has seen.
"They have better skills and they're more aware of soccer than other teams in the past," Scalise commented.
Scalise found it hard to credit any one individual with the team's success, though the play of Winn Everts, Mike Roberts, David Needham, Steve Yakopec and Lorenzo diBonneventura has stood out, Scalise said.
"We don't have one super player. The talent is spread out more equally on this year's team," Scalise said.
With one freshman, John Sanacore, already playing with the varsity, Scalisefeels his crop can strengthen the presently dismal Harvard soccer program in the years to come.
"I think we have quite a few players who can make the varsity squad successful," Scalise said. "It depends on what happens in the off-season."
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