Norm Forbush, Laxmen Nail Adelphi In Come-From-Behind 19-18 Victory

An entire season of pent-up frustrations, of goals that should have been scored, of games that should have been won, suddenly poured out on the field during the last three minutes of the last game of the season for the Harvard men's lacrosse team, as the laxmen nailed powerful Adelphi College, 19-18, at the Business School field.

Down by five goals with only three minutes remaining in the final period of what has proved a very long season, the laxmen exploded for six consecutive tallies to capture the win.

Attack Norm Forbush, who hit a peak yesterday after steadily improving following an early season injury, powered the squad with six goals and an assist, including a shot with two seconds remaining to give Harvard the win.

Gary Pedroni chipped in three goals, and led the game in assists with eight.

"It was one of the greatest comeback games I've ever been involved in." Harvard coach Bob Scalise said after the game. "We went into the game knowing we had nothing at all to lose."

Except the game. And from the beginning it looked like they would do just that. There was no reason to suppose differently. Adelphi, 11-1 going into the game, is the probable choice for Division 11 national champions. Harvard's season, on the other hand, has been disappointing, to say the least. Even with the win Saturday, the laxmen's final record rests at only 4-8.

And when Adelphi steamrolled out to a 7-2 lead in the first period, it seemed as though Harvard would crawl away from the 1981 season with its tail between its legs.

But sometime between the end of the first period and the beginning of the second, the laxmen decided not to give up.

They came back in the second period with six goals, led by Forbush--who netted three of his six during that period--and Pedroni, who knocked in two. At the half, Harvard had pulled to within a goal, 9-8.

From then on, it was a game of cat and mouse, with Adelphi always an elusive step or two ahead. Adelphi outscored the laxmen 6-4 in the third, to make the score 15-12 going into the final stanza.

Coming out strong in the fourth quarter, Adelphi made a serious bid to put the game out of reach. They knocked in three goals to Harvard's one, and nobody in his right mind would have given the laxmen a prayer.

But after some very timely Adelphi penalties, the Crimson was able to put together a scoring drive unmatched in recent memory.

During the last two minutes, with Adelphi a man short for the rest of the game. Forbush put Harvard to within two. A goal by freshman J.J. Nullet closed the gap to one, and Bobby Burr, on an assist from Pedroni with less than 30 seconds remaining, knotted the score at 18. From there, again, it was Forbush, who gave Harvard the victory on a beautiful pass from co-captain Frank Prezioso with two ticks left on the clock.

"It all came together Saturday." Scalise said, adding. "All season long we've seen flashes of brilliance in different aspects of our game, but we never played a complete game--this time everything was working."

The coach added, "For the seniors, it was a great way to go out, and for the rest it was a great step toward rebuilding the program for next year."

As to next year, Scalise is cautiously optimistic, saying he thinks the team will improve its performance over this year. But Scalise is unwilling to disparage the performance of this year's squad.

"Considering the injuries we had, we did very well this season. We had a lot of tough competition and lost some close games," he said.