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In military science, the army which produces the most firepower wins the war.
In soccer, oftentimes the same is true, and the Crimson army proved it yesterday by beating the Minutemen, the University of Massachusetts' army, 5-0, at Ohiri Field.
On its way to the victory, which raised the booters' record to 9-4, the Crimson took 35 shots--its highest total of the season. And unlike many teams who produce a lot of shots, and unlike the Crimson in some of its losses, the majority of its shots were close to being goals.
Harvard was just frighteningly accurate.
The victory gave the Crimson a much-needed boost in its quest for an NCAA post season tournament bid. In order to receive a bid, the booters must be ranked at season's end among the top two in the New England region.
Yale
Before yesterday's game, the Crimson was ranked fifth in the region, and the impressive win over a New England foe could only help.
The Crimson only has one New England game left, against Yale, which is currently ranked third in the region. Also, the team ranked second in the region, the University of Connecticut, fell to the Crimson, 2-0, two months ago.
"It's not really in our hands Captain Lane Ken-worthy said.
Harvard's barrage yesterday was led by ken-worthy, who scored two goals and striker John Catliff, who worked one and set up two of the others.
The two Crimson frontrunners have shown themselves to be very consistent and potent scorers throughout the season, and besides their physical and mental qualities, they possess superior vision of the goal area.
In soccer, many times a player who takes a shot will see the goalkeeper rather than the goal, and will end up shooting relatively straight at him.
What is distinctive about Kenworthy and Catliffe that they shoot at the entire 256 square feet of the goal area, and when you have a target that large, you're bound to get one in there sooner or later.
"Having them is just like having a rifle: you point it, pull the trigger, and boom!" Crimson Coach Jape Shattuck said of his stars. "Not everyone is so aware of how huge the goal is."
The Harvard mentor added that accuracy is one of the things he has stressed heavily this season.
The Crimson came out yesterday with rifles cocked. The first shot of the game, about one minute into the contest, was just wide, and it didn't take long at all for the Crimson to hit the target.
Kenworthy put the first goal in the net in the fifth minute after receiving a pass from midfielder Miles Welch, jaking out a defender, causing the Minuteman to slip, and hitting it past keeper Michael Sarnacki.
Midfielder Nikhil Singh, who has used his speed and high work rate to figure highly in the scoring throughout the season, put the second tally on the scoreboard in the 11th minute after he received a pass from Catliff, who hit it against the flow of play.
The Crimson outshot the Minutemen, 19-1, in the first half, but that was to prove to be only a drop in the bucket compared with the second.
Massachusetts came out inspired, and tried to get back into the game early in the second half. The Minutemen got the first two shots of the half, and for a while it looked as if they would get on the board.
But it was the hosts who continued the scoring.
Freshman winger Nick Hotchkin, one of the fastest Crimson booters, beat Sarnacki to a Catliff pass about 16 yards out on the left side of the penalty area, and he slid a low shot past the UMass netminder into the right side of the goal.
Catliff jumped onto the stat sheet again in the 58th minute when he headed a Matt Cameron cross to the left of Sarnacki, who got a hand on the shot but was not able to stop it.
The last goal of the contest was created by midfielder John Dales in the 82nd minute when be received a pass about 25 yards out, dribbled to yards past a UMass back, and unselfishly passed forward to Ken-worthy when he could have taken a shot himself.
The Harvard shipper didn't lot Daley or the team down though, as he calmly put the last tally in the nest.
THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard has won eight of its last nine games. The Crimson junior varsity was not as fortunate as the varsity, losing 10 to the Minuteman jayvees.
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