Stickmen Slaughter Yale, 13-4

The Crimson stickmen returned from New Haven Saturday evening, after galloping to their seventh consecutive victory, a 13-4 battering of Yale, and clinching at least part ownership of this season's coveted Ivy League lacrosse title.

Taking longer than usual to begin generating the quick smooth moves to the cage that have become the team's offensive trademark, Harvard could secure only a 1-1 tie for the first quarter of play, before fully charging up to take command during the second stanza.

After pulling out in front--3-2 on a Vic Kazanjian tally--the Crimson went on a scoring binge which carried into the second half. With co-captain Dave Wigglesworth bringing the ball downfield on the fastbreak. Midfielder Mike Davis sprang loose, signaled Wigglesworth for the pass and bought his first goal of the game.

Attackman Norm Forbush closed out the second quarter with what proved the winning score. At 12:47, with Yale a man down and Harvard moving toward goal, Forbush teamed up with creaseman Rich Rainaldi to split the defense in two and free himself for the shot, giving the Crimson a 5-2 lead.

After two more quick Crimson markers to open the next period--including Bob Burr's first of the season--the Bulldogs pumped in two of their own to interrupt the Crimson burst. Attack Mike Devlin picked up the assists on both goals before Harvard defenseman Haywood Miller moved in to handcuff the Yale feed man.

After shutting down the Bulldogs' inefficient scoring mechanism for good, the Harvard stickmen put on a surge which resulted in six unanswered goals beginning with Gary Pedroni's second of the contest at 11:44 in the third quarter.

Pedroni waited just two minutes before scoring another on a Pete Predun fast-break pass, and Davis pushed in a back-door shot moments before to separate Pedroni's tallies.

Predun used his seven assists to clinch third place on the Crimson's all-time high point list.

With the offense now in full gear, the Crimson continued to add insult to injury with three more tallies in the final period, including an awesome acrobatic display by the agile Mike Ward to open the quarter. Ward leapt into the air to sang a Predun pass and then twisted to shoot, releasing the ball over the head of his defender and hurling it past the surprised Craig Hornig, gamely protecting the Bulldog nets.

"The Princeton game next weekend will be the deciding factor on our outright claim to the title, but New Hampshire will be tough so we are only looking as far ahead as Wednesday," Coach Bob Scalise said last night.