Ivy Soccer: The Nucleus of Parity

Time for a little word association, sports fans.

Okay, Ivy League soccer?

Mind gone blank, eh? Never been down to the Business School field?

Funny, but those same words make more than a few heads around the league spin. Visions of the God of Parity dance in the heads of informed soccer sources like some bastardized cousin of the sugar plum fairy.

In a general sense, parity means balance and equality; in Ivy Title jargon, it means a toss-up. There is no consensus on championship squad, although many tentatively bestow the early-season jinx on Princeton.

But that's a pie-in-the-sky guesstimation, at best, because every squad--with the possible exception of Brown--has a legitimate shot at the crown in the very short (seven games) Ivy season. Princeton gets the early honors mostly on the strength of a possibly phenomenal recruiting year, with Tiger coach Bill Muse counting on the freshmen to shore up the offense and improve last year's 8-4-3 mark.

Crimson coach George Ford and others expect an even campaign partly because of the relative importance of the defense as the dominent unit on most ivy squads. This prompts speculation that an emerging offensive powerhouse--Princeton or any other team--may upset the balance in the league and run away with the title.

In this regard, Princeton may well be the favorite. Muse's charges lost three times in the last campaign by one goal, prompting an intensive recruiting drive--matched by U Penn and Yale--for the highly touted Uri Fishman, an explosive scorer who played his high school soccer in Connecticut.

Fishman--a Soviet Jewish immigrant--tallied 96 times over the last two prep seasons, garnering All-American honors. Still, high school success does not necessarily translate into college scoring, especially in the highly competitive, and at times highly physical Ivy League.

Jim and John Bowen--a pair of twins who paced last year's team, and who played on the East Regional squad at the national sports festival in Syracuse this summer--are back in the Tiger midfield. The defense should be strong in spite of the loss of a few veterans, with Jim Anderson vying with freshman Thomas Roberts for the starting goalie job.

Last year's defending co-champions, Pennsylvania and Columbia should crowd the top this year, too. Of the two, Penn will have a more difficult time repeating. The Quakers scored just 19 goals over 15 games last year. Their 9-3-3 final record reflects a dependence on defense. Harvard tied U Penn, 2-2, in Philadelphia.

But the authors of 12 of those 19 tallies lost to graduation, more pressure than ever will land on the defense, which gave up just 14 goals last season. To make matters worse, all Ivy goaltender Jim Tabak is gone, along with top scorers Eric Omsberg (4 goals) and Nick Pitrowski (8 goals.)

Much of the rest of the defense is intact with J.B. DeLaney at sweeper, co-captain Dave Miller at stopper, and seniors Tom Moore and Damon Vigiano at the wingbacks. Vigiano specializes in one-on-one defense, frequently marking the opposition's most potent scorer. Michael Moore will step into the twines without any varsity experience.

Penn's fortunes depend on whatever firepower Bob Seddon can manage to squeeze out of a short line of returnees and a gaggle of talented but untried freshmen. Prominent among the latter group is Keith Omsburg, who scored 45 goals his last high school season. Striker Bruce Becker is another possible key, with Kevin Kinnevy the leading returning scorer. Graduate Petrowski and Eric Omsberg--last year's leading scorers--were pressure players par excellence, scoring most of their goals in the last five or ten minutes of a game so the Quakers will need to find a comparable pair of sparkplugs.

Columbia enters the season in better shape, in spite of the recent loss of Amar Ali to the U.S. Junior National Team. Other losses will force position changes from last year's 12-1-2 squad, which zapped Harvard 3-1 in the 1980 Ivy opener. The two squads open the Ivy slate again this year in New York.

Besides Ali--Columbia's third leading scorer a year ago--the losses come mostly from the defensive front line. Center fullback Kurt Swanback and outside fullback Steve Cafiano have gone as has back Adam Suttner, who dropped out of school. To make up for these losses, Columbia plans to make some eye-opening changes. These position switches reflect the Lion's depth at midfield, as well as the fundamental soccer skills of Columbia's front-line players.

For instance Greg Varney--a manistay of the Columbia offense with 11 goals last year form his center forward slot--will shift all the way back to stopper. Similarly, Barry Nix, last season's Player of the Year at sweeper, will move to the midfield, and starter Steve Pratton will migrate up front from his halfback role. Offensively, Ivy Rookie of the Year Steve Sirtis is back up front, but the coaching staff is counting on a couple of freshmen to replace Ali and Varney. Jamaican Soloman Gale and New York State High School high scorer Frank Ozello will try to fill the gaps. Goalie is another question mark for the New Yorkers. Last year's second stringer, a former j.v. netminder and a freshmen all vying for the top spot.

Cornell's 1980 season ended with a heartbreaking loss to Hartwick in the first round of the NCAA East regional, and the 1981 version of the squad includes 11 lettermen back for another try at the Ivy title.

The Big Red surprised a few people last year, coming up with its best season since 1977, and gaining the tournament birth, with a 9-3-3 overall record, and a 3-2-2 Ivy mark good for a tie for third place. But if the denizens of Ithaca hope to improve in the standings, they'll have to do it without the help of several key performers. Losses on defense will put the Big Red in a position similar to that of Columbia, and will force coach Jack Riter to make a few changes in his line up. Most of the changes will come out of an overloaded, very talented midfield, where Riter has nine returning lettermen.

Goals should be no problem for the Big Red, with honorable mention, all-Ivy netminder David Weed returning for another season. Weed allowed just 1.08 goals per game last year. Since all three of his top scorers roamed the midfield last season, the departure of three starting forwards does not worry Riter, who plans to switch to a 4-4-2 allignment for the upcoming campaign. Crimson coach George Ford--whose charges dumped Cornell last season--experimented with the 4-4-2 allignment throughout last autumn, but has since largely abandoned it in favor of a 4-3-3 and 4-2-4.

Among Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale--all eminently capable of beating any other Ivy team in the league--the stress definitely is on defense, goaltending, and in some cases the midfield. Each of these teams will share the common Ivy malady of failure to score. Dartmouth returns 17 lettermen, including second-team All-Ivy goalie Andy Krahling, who last fall recorded six shutouts and was spectacular as the Big Green upset Harvard, 2-1, in the New Hampshire rain. Coach Tom Griffith will depend heavily on other returning defensive and midfield standouts, including second-team All-Ivy fullback Tim May and halfback co-captains Steve D'Antonio and Chris Morrisson.

Brown sings a similar--if somewhat bleaker--tune. The Bruins finished up 1980 with a 2-4-1 Ivy mark, good for a sixth-place tie with Dartmouth. And like the Big Green, scoring will be a prblem in 1981, with defense and goals the squads strong points.

Seniors will dominate the back line, with Andy Lauta at stopper, Sherm Swanson at sweeper, and Bill Champaigne at right fullback. The other wingback slot remains marginally open, with the smart money going on Matt Aaron.

But any soccer team needs time to score, and the Brown squad will have its problems with no one forward conspicuous in the points department. The two possible exceptions are Stew Mountain and Darius Scott.

Yale finished in the Ivy cellar last season (1-5-1), but the feeling lingers that the Eli are just too talented to have done that badly. With the addition of several bright freshmen stars plus the return of several veterans who garnered all-Ivy honors last fall, Yale will be a much improved team.

The Latter group includes goalie Rick McNerndy, striker Kevin Maher--Yale's top scorer last season with 11 points--and honorable mention forward Mark Rozelles (6,2). Those three should provide a strong nucleus into which a crop of slick recruits can fit.

Other veteran standouts include junior David Wasmann, whose forte is tight man-2-man defense and mid-fielder Ed Harris, a strong two-way player.

A prime failure last year was--not surprisingly--an inability to push across a few all-important tallies. Cautious on offense, Yale hung back in its own end, failing to develop a fluid transition from defense to offense. With the addition of the freshmen, that could change, making Yale more competitive.

So from the cream of the Ivies to the bottom, no squad can be counted out yet. At least five--including Harvard--must be rated as roughly equal, with Yale, Dartmouth and Brown capable of pulling upsets on any occasion.

So stick around, there'll be some fireworks as the Crimson takes on its Ivy League competition