Booters NCAA Bound

When the Harvard men's soccer team hosts Yale Sunday afternoon, Ohiri Field will be the forum for one of the most interesting Ivy League tussles in years.

In this case, however, the tussle will also be a preview of sorts.

This season, the Crimson (8-2-3 overall, 4-0-2 Ivy) and the Elis (11-2-1, 5-0-1) have combined to break an eight-year Columbia strangle-hold on the Ancient Eight.

More important, perhaps, both squads have also earned berths in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) post-season tournament--a tourney which opens with Sunday's match-up at Ohiri.

Not since 1977, when Cornell nabbed the Ivy crown, has Columbia failed to capture at least a share of the league title. This season, either Harvard or Yale is guaranteed to walk away with Ivy honors.

But before the two squads meet Wednesday in the regular-season finale (and, barring a Crimson loss tomorrow night at Penn, the decisive Ivy game), they must meet in the post-season opener.

For Yale's leading scorer, Sunday's match-up in the Bay State will be a homecoming.

Sophomore forward Steve Cass, who leads the Elis with five goals and two assists, is a native of Duxbury, Mass.--and holds the Massachusetts high school scoring record of 160 career points. Two years ago, as a senior at Duxbury High School, Cass was named the Massachusetts Player of the Year.

The Elis' other top scorer, senior midfielder Marc Schindler, has just one tally on the season--but has chipped in with 10 assists, a Yale single-season record.

Above all, the Eli offense is balanced. Unlike Harvard, which boasts a trio of players with six or more goals, Yale has no "big guns" to speak of--both Cass and Schindler share the limelight with other Yalies in an experienced, well-balanced scoring attack.

Six different players have contributed game-winning goals to the Eli campaign thus far.

Teaming up with Cass on the forward line are a pair of seniors, Brad Burdette and Charley Dumphy. Another scoring threat is sophomore Paul Marsink, who tallied the lone goal in Yale's 1-0 victory over Brown early in the season.

Junior Dave Kulik joins Schindler at midfield, along with senior Scott Wilson. The stingy Yale defense is anchored by right back and Captain David Todd, junior David Pfefferkorn and senior striker Chris Rice.

Super Sweeper

Perhaps the key figure on defense for the Elis is freshman sweeper Peter Zenobi. Two years ago, Yale finished at 10-4-1 (4-2-1 Ivy) but lost a number of key players--including All-Ivy First Team back Peter Sawkins.

Last season, suffering from a lack of leadership in the backfield, the New Havenites slumped to a 5-8-2 finish (2-3-2 Ivy). But with Zenobi at sweeper--and playing at full strength, after missing a pair of mid-season contests because of injury--Yale has reemerged as a defensive power in New England.

And providing the backbone for the entire squad is senior goalie Jeff Duback. A member of the West team at last summer's Olympic Sports Festival in Houston, Duback was named First Team All-America his sophomore year at Yale.

In the Elis' 14 contests thus far, Duback has allowed only five goals, giving him a goals-against average of 0.26. His 10 shutouts this year and his 24 career whitewashes are both Yale records.

Duback's counterparts on the Harvard side are sophomores Chad Reilly and Stephen Hall. Hall was tabbed as the Crimson's top net-minder entering the season but has suffered from a lingering viral infection for much of the year.

Reilly, who has played in nine of Harvard's 13 contests, owns a 0.91 g.a.a. and a .786 save percentage. In limited action, Hall has recorded a 1.25 g.a.a and a .750 save percentage.

With the Crimson attack putting on a show of late--23 goals in six games--both goalies have enjoyed the luxury of consistent offensive support.

Currently leading Harvard in scoring are freshman Derek Mills (10 goals and four assists for 24 points), senior John Catliff (9-4--22), and junior Nick Hotchkin (6-8--20).

Come Sunday, the Crimson scoring machine will come face-to-face with the Eli shutout machine. Although the result will not decide the Ivy crown--that event will have to wait until Wednesday--it will bring either Harvard or Yale's post-season to an early close.

HARVARD (8-2-3 overall, 3-0-2 Ivy)  YALE (11-2-1 overall, 5-0-1 Ivy) MIT  W  3-0  Central Conn.  W  2-1 (OT) Columbia  W  4-1  Brown  W  1-0 Connecticut  T  1-1 (OT)  Providence  W  1-0 Brandeis  W  3-2 (OT)  Cleveland State  W  2-0 Hartwick  L  3-1  Massachusetts  W1-0 Cornell  T  0-0 (OT)  Connecticut  L  1-0 Dartmouth  T  1-1 (OT)  Hartford  W  6-0 Princeton  W  4-0  Columbia  W  2-1 (OT) B.U.  L  2-1  Penn  W  1-0 Brown  W  5-2  Rhode Island  W  2-0 Massachusetts  W  8-1  Dartmouth  T0-0 (OT) Univ. of Tampa  W  4-1  Vermont  L  2-1 (OT) Florida Intl.  W  1-0  Cornell  W  3-0   Princeton  W  3-0