Crimson Stickmen Crunch UMass, 11-8

AMHERST, Mass.--The light at the end of the tunnel looms brighter for the stickmen after yesterday's 11-8 victory over the UMass Minutemen. The Crimson, now 10-2 on the year, posted its first win over the Minutemen since 1971 and its first ever on the UMass home turf.

Positioned number eight in the national rankings, the squad must defeat Adelphi to guarantee itself a spot in the NCAA playoffs.

After allowing the Minutemen to jump out to a 2-0 lead, Harvard started the contest rolling its way at 11:42 in the opening quarter. Attackman Norm Forbush took a pass from co-captain Dave Wigglesworth and went to the cage for the fastbreak goal.

Battling back from strep throat and a pregame warm-up blow that knocked him out cold, Crimson goalie John Lechner joined the tank-like defensive trio of Haywood Miller, Frank Prezioso and Scott Pink to hold the UMass squad at bay for the entire second round.

While the Minuteman offense was thwarted, Wigglesworth and frosh middle Brendan Meagher put the Crimson back in the driver's seat. Wigglesworth pulled the laxmen even at 12:10 with the first third of his hat trick.

With a mere seven seconds to go in the second quarter, Meagher took a feed from Forbush, turned on the drill, and put the Crimson out in front for good with the first of his game-high five goals.

Following a Wigglesworth goal to open the second half, Minuteman Jim Weller interrupted the Harvard show momentarily to pump in the second half of his afternoon deuce. Having seen enough, the red-hot Wigglesworth took a pass and went into a spinning fake that left two stunned UMass defensemen wiping the dust from their eyes while he launched a cannon for his final goal.

Finishing up with his scoring chores, Wigglesworth turned over the burden to Meagher and went back to scooping up groundballs so the stickmen could control the momentum for the last half of the game.

Meagher, who paced the team with three tallies in the third and fourth quarters, got help from capable attackman Gary Pedroni and co-captain Peter Predun, each of whom added a goal.

Predun's amazing ability to switch directions and stay in balance while moving at full speed left UMass defenders reeling all over the field while the other key links in the Crimson's potent offense waited for Predun's passes.

"UMass was tough, but we were better and played like we wanted it. Every game is crucial now, but we're psyched and ready to win. Adelphi's next and we want that one, too," Wigglesworth said last night after the game.

Harvard will head down to Garden City Friday to prepare for its last regular season game against 1979 Division II national champion Adelphi. If the Crimson wins, the stickmen are playoff-bound.