Laxmen Destroy Brown In Rough Contest, 19-9; Faught Rifles Home Six

The Harvard lacrosse, team won a battle Saturday, but the war rests in the balance. The Crimson rolled over Brown, 19-9, at Providence in a contest marked by tough hitting and outbreaks of violence, but when the smoke cleared Harvard's already swollen casualty list had grown larger, heading into Wednesday's confrontation with Cornell, the best team in the USA.

Sparked by the scoring of crack artillery unit Mike Faught (six goals), Steve Martin (three goals, three assists) and Peter Predun (two and three), the entrenched defense of goalie Ken First (20 saves) and a dramatic charge off the bench by Chris "The Beast" Doherty, Harvard controlled the first half before exploding in an 11-goal third quarter to put the game away.

The game deteriorated in the fourth quarter as penalties and fights held up the contest for 20 minutes at one point. Harvard found itself a man down 10 times on the day.

"They were very aggressive and very rough," coach Bob Scalise said yesterday, "and the officials did a weak job keeping it under control."

Worse than violence, though, was the injury list. Co-captain Bobby Mellen may not be available for the Cornell donnybrook, thanks to the mauling of his shoulder received at the hands of a Bruin laxman. Attackman Billy Forbush and midfielder Terry Trusty also took their licks at Providence, while stellar defenseman Haywood Miller remains seriously hurt and Jim Ossyra and Frank Prezioso are less than 100 per cent.

But back to the action. Brown opened its only lead of the day with the initial goal, but Faught rifled home one goal and Martin two more to leave the first-quarter score knotted at three-all.

The Crimson added a couple more early in the second period, but it was not until the theatrical entrance of Mr. Doherty that Harvard broke out of its somewhat sluggish play.

Doherty, arriving late from a fellowship interview, stripped down to his uniform quickly and charged onto the field amidst vociferous chants of "Beast!" from the Harvard stands. Just second later, the senior sharpshooter let rip a 12-yard shot that sailed past Brown goalie Charlie Meister, and the Bruins were psyched out of their skulls.

The squals broke for halftime with Harvard up 7-4, but the fireworks were soon to come. The Crimson laxmen came out gunning in the third stanza, boosting the score to 11-5 in the first six and a half minutes.

And then Faught unpacked his gatling gun and went on an awesome scoring spree, tallying goals at 8:29, 8:59 and 9:09. Faught then let his smoking pistol cool off long enough for four teammates to find the net, before closing the scoring himself with five minutes left in the game.

The defense looked rusty at times for Harvard, as the midfielders had some trouble getting back into the hole, but for the most part Harvard's team played like a well-oiled machine. The injuries pose the biggest question mark in preparation for Cornell, which set a record for longest winning streak ever (34) by defeating powerhouse Johns Hopkins Saturday.

Formidable as Cornell is, the laxmen are psyched.

"The team's thinking is that all streaks come to an end," goalie First said yesterday, "so we might as well do it."