Men Booters Crush Hawks, 5-1

To borrow a European soccer phrase, the Crimson looked "sick as a parrot" in yesterday's men's soccer contest against Hartford.

But it didn't matter, as usual. The first-period plague hasn't stopped Harvard yet this season. Neither has a slew of injuries or an offensive slump. It looks like nothing short of a natural disaster will halt the crusading Crimson this year.

And Hartford didn't bring an earthquake to Ohiri Field. The Hawks could only manage a minor tremor.

The Crimson booters erupted for four second-half goals yesterday to break a 1-1 deadlock and walk away with a 5-1 victory. The win pushed Harvard's overall record to 8-0-2 and solidified its fifth-place ISAA national ranking.

And those kind of results, according to the English duo of Nick Gates and Paul Baverstock, translate into a season that's been "over the moon."

Harvard's foreign contingent got a taste of home in yesterday's contest as the officials ran the clock European style--adding on minutes at the close of the half to make up for injuries and Hartford stalls.

The extra time was a bonus for the Crimson with sophomore Nick D'Onofrio netting a Ramy Rajballie pass 47:01 into what is usually a 45-minute period.

"The ref had the official clock," Harvard Coach Mike Getman said. "He had stopped play several times for injuries and other reasons."

Throughout the opening half, Hartford tried to combat the Crimson's quickness by stalling on both free and goalie kicks.

"It was a little frustrating, obviously," senior Andy Dale said. "But that's what they're going to come here and do."

Back in Black

Harvard had trouble responding to the Hawk strategy, showing "a total lack of desire and no intensity," according to Getman. Junior Chad Reilly, in goal for the second time this season, received a rude greeting when Hawk freshman Victor Hernani fired a shot into the right corner of the net just minutes into the opening period.

"They caught us off guard on that corner kick," Dale said. "We were really shaky in the first half."

Hartford helped Harvard to a 2-1 lead early in the second half when a Hawk back made a bad pass to goalie Chris Mindru and sophomore David Kramer ran the ball into the net.

Rajballie had a foot in the next two Crimson goals, sending passes to sophomore Paul Baverstock and senior Ken Rouff to put Harvard up, 4-1.

Closed Out

"[Rajballie] saw there was a bit of a gap and drilled it across," Baverstock said. D'Onofrio chipped in a Nick Hotchkin free kick with a little over three minutes remaining to close out the scoring.

It wasn't a great game," Dale said. "We were not shooting early enough in the first half."

Harvard may not have gotten its shots off quickly, but it certainly got off enough of them--a season-high 26 to be exact. Hartford had only 10 shots.

"It was definitely our poorest performance of the year," Getman said. "But we came out on top, so for now we'll take it."

THE NOTEBOOK: Reilly made five saves, with Hawk goalie Mindru nabbing nine...Kramer continued his scoring spree, netting a goal for the fourth straight game to bring his season total to eight...Harvard hosts Ivy rival Princeton at Ohiri Field Saturday.