More Frustration Than Elation

Looking back on the sports year that has just concluded, it is hard to retain much enthusiasm over the successes that dotted the 1978-79 season. Overall, this was a gloomy year for the Crimson charges, a year that saw Harvard invincibles proven mortal and Cambridge hopes cast aside.

As the recruiting plague has swollen to monstrous proportions in college sports--even infecting much of the purportedly immune Ivy League--idealistic Harvard has fallen behind on the playing fields. Unwilling to match dollar for dollar or to turn the other cheek on academic qualifications, the University has been unable to attract a sufficient number of superstars to keep its teams in contention with the frontrunners.

From the men's squash team that suffered through its worst season in years (8-2, rather than the usual 10-0), to the struggling men's basketball squad that could have been awesome but for the lack of one hulkish center, the year brought frustration.

Of course, some stars did sparkle for Harvard. The freshman ranks brought tennis ace Betsy Richmond, who amassed a bevy of Harvard racquet firsts, and diving power Pam Stone, who helped brighten Stefi Walsh's retirement-plagued squad (five veteran swimmers did not participate this year). Senior Geoff Stiles made Harvard the kingdom of pole vaulting, and Joe Bernal's swimmers enjoyed a victory addiction.

Also on the positive side, the ever-improving women's teams bounded ahead once again this year. Women's lacrosse took an impressive fifth in the Nationals, women's soccer commandered a magnificent Ivy Title, and field hockey gained a first-ever win over Princeton.

But in general, the fate of Harvard sports in '78-'79 can probably best be summarized by the men's and women's crews, where disappointment, especially at the Sprints, was the common though new order of the day.

Overviews, by nature, are shortsighted; but it seems that the road ahead for Harvard sports holds a long climb up the recruiting-created hill.

Getting the boot from everyone

Sept. 20, 1978--MIT douses the Harvard men's soccer team's scorching optimism with an opening-day, 3-1 upset--the first Crimson loss to the Engineers since 1962.

The loss to traditionally hapless MIT set the tone for a season laden with solid efforts, but not much to show for them. Only a last-minute goal by junior Tommy Castro, giving the booters a 1-0 win in the The Yale Game, salvaged a dismal year.

The Crimson constantly outshone its opponents but failed to put the ball in the net in crucial situations. Freshman Pete Walsh (goalkeeper) and Mauro Keller-Sarmiento (right wing) showed immense potential, and captain Jim Langton together with veteran Michael Smith performed well; but something was missing from Coach George Ford's team: an offense. Leading scorer Walter Diaz's goal total was down by nine from the year before. The Crimson went for more than three games without a goal at one point.

At midseason, Diaz said "We've come so close, you know it's going to come." It didn't.

Men's heavies

April 7, 1979--The Harvard heavyweight crew thunders back into national prominence with an upset win in the San Diego Crew Classic by about a length and a half.

Harry Parker's heavies cruised through the early part of the season with easy triumphs over Brown, Navy and Penn and a Charles River record for 2000 meters in the Compton Cup over Princeton and MIT on April 28.

But in Worcester, at the Eastern Sprints, Crimson nemesis Yale trounced the oarsmen to solidify the Eli's claim to the national title and frustrate Harvard's hopes for the second straight year.

Aaaargh!

Sept. 23, 1978--The Crimson gridders drop their season opener in a stunning 21-19 loss to Columbia. It is the first victory for the Lions in Cambridge since 1961. Senior halfback Wayne Moore tears through the Columbia defense for 97 yards, including a dazzling 73-yd. touch-down romp.

Sept. 30, 1978--The gridders storm back a week later to zap the UMass Minutemen, 10-0; but Moore is lost for the season with a broken and dislocated ankle.

The Crimson football team typified Harvard sports in '78-'79: sweet hopes, but sour results. The gridders toppled eventual Ivy champ Dartmouth and Penn, but fell by a single point in an excruciating loss to Brown. Cornell slopped past them on a muddy field. And in the cruelest finish, despite having the ball on Princeton's five yard line with 28 seconds left, the offense stumbled and fumbled, and the game ended in a 24-24 deadlock.

The Crimson fought its way back from a 35-14 deficit in The Game to within one touchdown. But the Yale offense killed the last six minutes of the season, as senior quarterback Larry Brown and his cohorts watched hopes die one last time.

The 'Herd,' the women and victory

Oct. 17, 1978--

The men's and women's cross country squads sweep in the Greater Boston Championship meets. Senior Peter Fitzsimmons and sophomore Anne Sullivan each grab second-place finishes in their divisions.

The "Herd" was the word in Harvard cross country circles this fall. Senior captain Mark Meyer and senior Eddie Sheehan joined Fitzie to lead the harriers to a solid season, including a convincing victory in the Big Three meet with Princeton and Yale. Coach Bill McCurdy's harriers notched the 28th spot in the national ranks.

The women's squad, coached by Pappy Hunt, also enjoyed considerable success. Therese Sellers and Karla Amble trampled opponents all season long, following closely in Sullivan's footsteps. The harriers took second in the New Englands, behind Vermont.

Princeton squeaked by the harriers in the Big Three meet, 29-37, but freshman Paula Newnham returned from an early season case of food poisoning to register the Crimson's top result in that contest.

Title time

Nov. 4, 1978--The Harvard women's soccer team caps a magnificent season by toppling Brown, 3-0, to capture the Ivy League championship. Julie Brynteson scores the hat trick and garners the tournament's Most Valuable Player honors.

Standouts Wendy Sands and Kathy Batter anchored a wall-like defense that allowed forwards like Sue St. Louis, Cat Ferrante and Ellen Hart to ignite an explosive attack. Only a late-season loss to UMass marred the booters' record, but coach Bob Scalise's crew was as balanced a team as seen in a long time in the Ivy League.

Tradition's wake on the Charles

'Cliffe heavies

May 13, 1979--The seventh-seeded Radcliffe heavies shoot past Princeton in the last 30 strokes of the Eastern Sprints to grab third place behind Yale and Wisconsin in the Super Bowl of women's crew in New Preston, Conn.

The squad had accumulated a 2-2 record in the regular season, the season highlight coming on April 15, when the 'Cliffe heavies smoked Princeton and Cornell on Lake Carnegie in New Jersey.

Men's lights

May 13, 1979--The undefeated junior varsity lightweights win their event and the varsity finishes a disappointing third in the Eastern Sprints in Worcester; but the performance is good enough to gain Harvard the Jope Cup, signifying the best overall lightweight performance in the Sprints.

The varsity lights came into the season promising that it would take "No prisoners," but two defeats by Yale left the oarsmen stung by the continuing domination of their arch-rivals.

'Cliffe lights

May 13, 1979--The Radcliffe lights finish second in the Eastern Sprints in New Preston, Conn., to a powerful Boston University crew, a virtual repeat of the two crews' race earlier in the season.

Coach Peter Huntsman reshuffled his boat several times, and the women in black bedeviled Williams and Cornell; but they never could triumph over the Terriers.

Diamond mine at Blodgett

March 4, 1979--Harvard's athletic year reaches the zenith with Crimson swimmers dazzling more than 100 screaming fans at Blodgett Pool as the aquamen smoke past Princeton to win the Easterns.

In a year that saw Joe Bernal's talented troops casually cast aside dual meet competitions to amass a perfect record, embarrassing Yale and edging Princeton, 59-54, the swimmers had the answer for virtually every challenge.

While diving coach John Walker and Bernal enjoyed champagne, cigars and gainers from the high board to celebrate the Eastern victory, the memory of moments like Mike Coglin's breathtaking anchor leg in the 800-yd. freestyle relay on the second night of the Easterns, giving Harvard a .03-second win over favored Princeton, heightened the euphoria.

The win, the first Eastern title in the University's history and the end of a six-year Princeton reign, brought the sweetest satisfaction to a team loaded with record-breakers and sharp personalities. Freshman Ron Raikula, taking 13th at the NCAAs in the 200-yd. backstroke, diver Steve Schramm, advancing to national competition after hitting his head on the board in practice before the qualifying rounds, and Bobby Hackett, triumphing at the NCAAs in the face of a team let-down were just a few of the jewels in the Harvard crown.

Taking the big leap

March 10, 1979--Senior track captain Geoff Stiles captures the NCAA indoor pole vault competition at 17 feet, 3 inches, setting a new Ivy League, New England and Harvard record. The thinclad two-mile relay team of Adam Dixon, John Chafee, Thad McNulty and John Murphy finishes third. The five trackmen make All-American as the Crimson grabs seventh in the nation.

After a sparkling indoor season, injuries devastated the spring version of men's track. The squad could not muster an impressive outdoor record because of a lack of depth. But the tracksters improved in every meet, particularly in the throwing events where Joe Pelligrini, Tom Lenz and Gary Quantock garnered many unexpected points.

Veteran distance men Eddie Sheehan, Peter Fitzsimmons and Mark Meyer capped their Harvard careers in a typically steady manner. The sprinters pulled off some stellar surprises in the face of debilitating injuries; but the jumpers, except for the superlative Stiles, had a disappointing season.

In the end, Stiles was the story of Harvard track this year. He has improved his vaulting by almost three feet since freshman year, solely on the strength of relentless dedication.

Not quite

Jan. 11, 1979--The Harvard men's basketball team falls, 81-61, to Northeastern for its 12th straight defeat. The Huskies rack up 40 points in 15 minutes during the second half, to the cagers' ten.

When the Harvard hoopsters embarked on their Western trip at Christmas, the team was riding a high, coming off some good early-season contests and a strong showing against Boston College in Boston Garden. When they returned, entrenched in the depths of a miserable slump, coach Frank McLaughlin said his squad was "fatigued."

Co-captain Glenn Fine, a Rhodes scholar and playmaker extrordinaire, combined with senior co-captain Bob Hooft and freshman star Don Fleming to provide flashes of brilliance. But Princeton and Penn came and conquered, the season drew to a creeping close, and the Great Leap Forward into big-time basketball did not develop.

Curveball misses outside

May 13, 1979--Cornell spoils Harvard pitching star Larry Brown's final appearance for the Crimson and kills any chance for the Crimson to retain the Eastern League (EIBL) title with a 3-1 win in Ithaca, N.Y.

The batsmen could never quite put it together this year. Despite several fine individual performances, the squad could only manage a 22-14 overall record, a fourth-place finish in the Eastern League and second in the Greater Boston League (GBL) after sweeping both titles last year.

Though success still eluded Harvard, the batsmen ended their fractious ways under the leadership of genial rookie coach Alex Nahigian. Mark Bingham and Mike Stenhouse took one-two in GBL batting and senior hurler Tim Clifford finished second on the Eastern League pitching roster.

The Crimson had a shot at catching eventual Eastern League winner Navy, from whom the batsmen swept a doubleheader in early April. But the loss to Cornell, on the last weekend of the season, dropped Harvard's league record to 9-5 and prevented the Crimson from playing in the NCAA playoffs.

The high point of the Harvard year came May 4 when Clifford won both sides of a doubleheader, 11-4 and 8-2, over Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. The victories put Harvard within striking range of the league leaders; but, as was so often the case this year, success proved elusive in the end.

Title grabber

Oct. 15, 1978--Harvard racquetwomen make Massachusetts tennis history by triumphing in both the singles and doubles categories on their way to securing the state title.

Crimson freshman Betsy Richmond beat out teammate Martha Roberts in the singles division while Meg Meyer and Katie Ditzler topped the doubles.

Richmond's victory made her the first Radcliffe state singles champion ever, and her emergence the next week as New England's number one collegiate female tennis player marked another distinction in Harvard tennis history.

MORE SPORTS HIGHS AND LOWS

Feb. 2, 1979--The women's track teem cops the Greater Boston Championships crown.

Feb. 4, 1979--The Harvard men's squash team starts on its lost week, dropping a 6-3 contest to Princeton. Seven days later the men would lose to Penn by an identical score.

Feb. 4, 1979--The women's squash team finishes third out of 20 teams in the Howe Cup tournament. The losses to Princeton and Yale snap Harvard's undefeated record.

Feb. 10-11, 1979--The women's swim team strokes to a fine fourth-place finish at the Ivy Championships. Freshman diving ace Pam Stone takes first from one meter and second off the high board.

Feb. 11, 1979--The women's fencing team rides a rollercoaster season to a low, dropping a 15-1 bout with Cornell.

Feb. 24, 1979--Controversy about the officiating surrounds a thrilling 17-10 Harvardmen's fencing win over Yale.

Feb. 24-25, 1979--Riding high into the Ivy League Tournament, the women's hockey team drops a pair of contests for a disappointing finish.

March 4, 1979--The women's track team stuns powerful Princeton, edging the Tigers by two points to take the Big Three title.

April 28, 1979--Despite only club-status funding, the Harvard volleyball team upends Northeastern to take the New England crown.

April 30, 1979--The slumping Harvard linksters coast to victory in the Greater Boston Championships.

Aced

May 10, 1979--Navy torpedoes the Harvard men's tennis team, 5-4, all but shattering the Crimson's shot at the Eastern League title.

The final blow, however, came when Jay Lapidus and his pack of Princeton Tigers destroyed the Crimson, 8-1, capturing the first undisputed league title since 1966.

One bright point of the season arrived when Harvard trounced Yale, 8-1; but the Elis avenged the loss the following week at the New Englands by topping Harvard by one, lonely point.

Number one man Don Pompan, who lost only one match in League play, will return next year. But for captain Kevin Shaw, Scott Walker, Dick Arnos and Andy Chaikovsky--who played brilliantly this year despite a shoulder injury--four years of Harvard tennis came to a disappointing end.

Roughed up along the boards

Jan. 31, 1979--Late in the third period the score is even, 3-3, and the Harvard hockey team has a chance to stay, barely, in the race for an ECAC Division One playoff berth. Then the Providence College Friars fire in two goals in the last four minutes for a 5-3 win.

Nobody is surprised. For two years, the Crimson icemen had raised high hopes with impressive early showings, then blown a shot at post-season competition with unexpected collapses. But in 1978-79, Bill Cleary's squad didn't bother to heighten the suspense: from their 7-2 drubbing at the hands of Dartmouth in the opener to the long-awaited finale (Yale's ultra-frustration job at the New Haven Colliseum), the skaters inspired no delusions of grandeur, only apathy and pathos.

But for a few semi-bright spots--the fine play of rookie Dave Burke, George Hughes' four-goal bonanza against UNH in December, Mike Watson's OT tally to dump B.C., the well-played Beanpot loss to B.U. and the welcomed 10-2 blowout of Colgate--this year's version of Harvard hockey could be written off as just about a total loss.

Playing their home schedule at B.U.'s vacuum-packed Walter Brown Arena, the Crimson finished 7-18-1 overall and 1-8-1 in the Ivies, both Harvard records for ineptitude. Bad play was spread evenly among an offense that couldn't produce (especially on the power play), a defense that kept the puck in its own zone, and inconsistent goaltending.

Wait 'til next year--with Watson Rink renovated at least we'll get home faster after the losses.

Historic win

Oct. 28, 1979--The Crimson field hockey team upends Princeton for the first time ever, as Sarah Mleczko tallies the game's only score in a memorable 1-0 win.

Co-captains Ellen Seidler and Mary Howard led the stickwomen, who fell to Cornell, 2-1, in the regional playoffs. Seidler's steady netminding and the offensive spark of Mleczko and Howard gave the Crimson the nucleus of a team which had the potential to knock off anyone in the East.

When it didn't, the players and coach Debi Field said it was "depressing." But this was one Harvard team that made history.

Quicksticked

April 28, 1979--The Princeton Tigers edge the Crimson laxmen, 11-9, destroying Harvard's hopes for an NCAA playoff berth.

The laxmen went on to lose to UMass, spoiling their bid for the New England Championship. A tough pair of early season losses to Eastern lacrosse powers Cornell and Johns Hopkins dampened the Crimson's NCAA aspirations before Harvard ever really got rolling.

Laboring without stellar midfielder Peter Predun after he broke his right thumb early in the schedule, the laxmen amassed a 10-4 record. Goalie Kenny First played superbly, forward Mike Faught battled valliantly and freshman Norm Forbush exhibited style--but the NCAAs were still a step away.