Yale Shuts Out Booters, 1-0, As Offense Sputters to Halt

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--There were no surprises Saturday as the Harvard men's soccer team dropped its fifth Ivy League contest in seven outings this season, falling to Yale, 1-0, with a dearth of offense and plenitude of defense that has characterized the booters' efforts all year.

The loss lowered the Crimson's 1981 record to 5-6-3 overall, and marked the fifth time the booters have been shut out this year.

The Crimson seemed to control most of the play during the first half and throughout most of the second as well, but despite appearances, the booters tested Yale goalkeep Rick McNercy but three times in 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, on the Harvard back line, Peter Sergienko, John Duggan, Deniz Perese and Andreas Keller-Sarmiento, all of whom will not return next year, displayed of their finest efforts, allowing only seven balls to challenge Crimson keepers Peter Walsh and Ben Erulkar.

Walsh and Erulkar, who each played a half, were superb as well, but all the defense went for naught as plays starting from the back fizzled between the Harvard defense and the Yale goal.

"We'd have a nice move or pass," midfielder Frank Ricapito said after the game, "but we had no consistency. So many people played their hearts out. We just didn't mesh."

Frustration

Despite all the Crimson emotion, it was the Elis who managed to score the game's only goal at 60:34. Yale defender Dave Wassman came up on the left side, received a pass from striker John Monti, and delivered a sharp cross across the middle that David Delgato headed over Erulkar's head into the upper left corner of the net.

Delgato's tally came on a counter-attack as the Crimson defense was clearing out of its defending third of the field.

"There were three guys offside," senior captain Duggan said after his final varsity game. "We came up past the 18 [yard line], and caught them, but the ref missed it."

That may sound like sour grapes, but the Crimson defense does not usually make excuses for its mistakes.

Fifteen minutes later, Duggan made the mistake of letting the frustration of the game, and perhaps the season, get to him. After being hounded by a Yale midfielder while trying to challenge for a ball, Duggan threw a right to the midsection of the Bulldog that earned the Harvard stopper a red card and an expulsion.

"It's not a good way to go out," Duggan said. "I feel pretty bad. It wasn't much of a game, nothing like the way we could play."

After Duggan's ouster in the 75th minute, one might have supposed that the Harvard evanescent defense would have disappeared, but the booters had their best opportunity of the game in the 89th minute when Leo Lanzillo pounded a left-footed shot from the 18-yd, line that just missed the right post.

The play had developed at midfield when Ricapito stole the ball and lofted a pass over the Eli left fullback, who not expecting the steal, was left out of position.

"It was a race between him and me." Lanzillo said, "and I took the shot before he came up on me. I should have put it in, but I missed by about eight inches. I guess that sort of sums up the season."