A Tourney Summary: The Route to Duke

Exit 1: Yale

After battling for 110 scoreless minutes, Harvard and Yale took their opening round NCAA tourney contest into a penalty kick shootout extravaganza before 2700 fans at Ohiri Field.

Paul Baverstock and John Catliff each lined shots past All-American Eli goaltender Jeff Duback and Harvard netminder Chad Reilly was brilliant, surrendering but one tally, as the Crimson advanced to the second round with a 1-0 (2-1 in penalty kicks) victory.

Coming off an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Pennsylvannia in their regular-season finale, the booters also had their pride on the line against the Elis. Despite losing to the Crimson--and falling out of the national tourney--Yale copped its first Ivy League title in 30 years and finished the year with an 11-3-1 overall mark.

Exit 2: Boston University

The booters, losers to Boston University on the artificial turf of the Terriers' Nickerson Field earlier in the season, rallied from a 1-0 deficit to capture their second-round contest and the New England Regional Championship, 2-1, before an overflow crowd of 3000 fans at Ohiri Field.

Catliff, who scored the game-winning goal against Yale, tied the score at one with a penalty kick and then Derek Mills un-tied it when lunging Terrier netminder John Moe redirected a his hooking shot, headed wide of the post, back into the goal.

Coming on the same afternoon as the Harvard football team's 24-17 season-ending victory over Yale in The Game, the booters' second-round triumph vaulted them into the quarterfinal round of the NCAAs for the first time since 1972.

Exit 3: Hartwick

For the third straight tournament game, an NCAA committee awarded Harvard the home field advantage, and the Crimson kept in tact its unblemished 1986 Ohiri mark with a 2-0 triumph over Hartwick before 3500 fans.

With the quarterfinal round victory, the booters avenged a 3-1, earlier-season loss to the 'Wick and moved a step closer to the national finals in Tacoma, Wash., on Dec. 13.

Catliff notched his second game-winning goal in three games and Mills added an insurance tally as Reilly registered his first shutout of the post-season and fifth overall.

As the temperature hovered around the zero degree range, Harvard played the game at its preferred up-beat tempo, especially in the second half, and set up a national semifinals showdown with Duke tomorrow afternoon.