Refs Like Wellesley, But 'Cliffe Polo Still Triumphs

Listen up, Harvard, and you shall hear

Of a sporting triumph without peer,

On the fourth of May, in Seventy-six,

In Wellesley, Mass. [i.e.-the sticks],

'Cliffe's polo squad smashed the home folks, so dear.

The score itself, six-four, matters little,

So great was Radcliffe's domination,

That had the referees not favored Wellesley,

Much greater would have been the devastation;

For indeed, throughout the contest,

And I say this in anything but jest,

While battling contacts, and misplaced curls,

And the Wellesley waves which would ebb and whirl,

The 'Cliffies would yell, "The ref likes Wellesley girls."

But this problem, encountered once before,

In April, behind the IAB's door,

When Radcliffe won by a seven-six score,

Prevented things from being a bore;

Which easily they might have become,

Had coach Wes Raffel, the players' chum,

Into the team not decided to drum,

A bit of nostalgia, and thus started,

Six players soon to be departed.

Raffel called on Murphy, Radnasto,

Barbier, Sullivan and McQueen,

And in goal, rounding out the starting team,

Winnie Lee, count the seniors, there were six;

But to his dismay, solely for show,

Wellesley started strong, despite being green,

And Radcliffe took some well deserved licks.

It was tied at one, at two, at three, at four,

The home folks couldn't be shaken;

Could Raffel have been so mistaken?

He swallowed his pride, viewing the score,

Substitutions, they would have to be made,

For too long, deadlocked, the game stayed;

So enter some fresh blood, Raffel moves,

Seeking to find the ultimate groove,

And what do you know, the subs come through,

Wellesley is handed its rightful due,

Yet a genius Raffel will soon prove.

The final tally, six to four,

Was achieved through two Jane McNamara goals,

Who hit for the bathing cap trick in her role

As the team's leading producer of scores;

Added to early goals by captain Hendricks,

Murphy and Barbier, who also did click,

The freshman's goals gave Radcliffe the win,

Despite too much time in the sin bin;

And as one wag remarked once the game was over,

And no, the following is not a flubbing,

"Radcliffe possessed a four-leaf clover,

Wellesley was handed a rub-a-dub drubbing."