Agony, Ecstasy and Even a Few Titles

Like all years, this year had moments. Both highs and lows. Only this year's moments operated under a strange formula. The lower the moment, the greater the attention.

Witness the Columbia football team. For each game, the Lions invented new ways to lose. (Unfortunately, Columbia didn't copyright its playbook, 101 Ways to Fumble and Bumble Your Way to Sports Infamy, and now the Baltimore Orioles are stealing passages from it right and left.)

This year, the Lions got more attention than any other team in the Ivy League. Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, the Washington Post and two dozen other prestigious journals all sent reporters to chart the plight of the Lions.

Columbia broke the Division I record for most consecutive losses--it was 34 before last season, now it's 41 and counting--and earned lasting glory.

Harvard won the Ivy League championship. Did anyone notice?

Crimson football success was matched by Crimson soccer success and Crimson swimming success and Crimson lacrosse success. Ivy League titles were as common in Cambridge as street-corner guitar players.

Columbia got the press. Harvard got success.

What follows is a blow-by-blow account of Harvard's athletic year:

September 19, 1987: The Harvard football team gets off on the right foot. The Columbia football team tries to get off on the right foot, but puts its left foot forward instead, trips and falls flat on its face. Harvard triumphs, 35-0, sending Columbia to its 32nd straight loss--two shy of the NCAA Division I collegiate record.

The Crimson writes, "The Columbia Lions, the team that never wins from the city that never sleeps, inched one game closer to collegiate football immortality this weekend."

Harvard quarterback Tom Yohe (two touchdown passes) and running back Dave Bunning (80 yards rushing) help give the Crimson its ninth straight opening-day victory.

The Harvard soccer teams get the better of Columbia, too. The men sneak by, 3-2, and the women blank the Lions, 3-0.

September 23, 1987: The men's soccer team (2-0-1) goes scoreless, but so does the University of Connecticut and the game finishes, 0-0.

The women's squad is more potent. The Crimson gets all the offense it needs with 29 minutes gone in the first half. Freshman Christin Biggs gets her own rebound and tips it into the net to give Harvard a 1-0 victory over New Hampshire.

September 26, 1987: The Harvard football team takes on Northeastern and its fabled Wishbone offense. The Crimson (2-0) picks the 'bone clean. Yohe (265 yards passing, the eighth best day in Crimson quarterback history) again leads the attack.

September 29, 1987: One is a lonely number--except if you're a member of the women's soccer team. One is all the women booters get. And one is all they need. The Crimson (4-0) tops Providence, 1-0, on a Karen Pinezich shot.

September 30, 1987: The Harvard field hockey team shows an amazing ability to do well against national powerhouses and do pathetically against local poorhouses. The nationally-ranked University of Connecticut Huskies are as good as any team in the country. So the Crimson knots the Huskies, 3-3, thanks to Sharon Landau, who scores with 16 seconds remaining in regulation play.

October 3, 1987: Yohe turns in an identical performance from the week before in helping the Crimson to a 33-14 victory over Bucknell.

The Crimson writes: "Tom Yohe now holds the record for the eighth best passing day in Harvard history."

"Tom Yohe now holds the record for the eighth best passing day in Harvard history.

"Note: you are not seeing double."

Once again, Yohe tosses for 265 yards. Once again, Harvard (3-0) triumphs.

The men's soccer team finishes in a 1-1 tie with Hartwick. And the women booters score only one goal again. As usual, it's enough--the Crimson defeats the University of Vermont, 1-0.

October 11, 1987: The Crimson football squad returns to the comfortable confines of the Ivy League and promptly loses. Cornell and its late-game aerial show prove too much.

With less than two minutes left in the game, Big Red receiver Shaun Hawkins streaks down the right side of the field, takes a pass from quarterback Dave Dase and bats the ball into the air. Then, he bats it again. Finally, he catches it and zips into the endzone. Cornell scores another touchdown before the gun goes off and triumphs, 29-17.

October 17, 1987: Crimson sports teams take to the Big Green seas and, for the most part, stay afloat.

Behind Tony Hinz's 152 yards rushing (on a mere 12 carries), the Harvard football squad drowns Dartmouth, 42-3. The victory puts the Crimson (2-1 Ivy League) into a second-place tie with three other schools, all one-half game behind Cornell.

The men's soccer team capitalizes on three first-half goals and boots Dartmouth, 4-1. Says Crimson forward Derek Mills, "It was the best game we've played this season."

The women's soccer team again cannot find the net. But Crimson goalie Tracee Whitley makes sure Dartmouth can't either. The 0-0 tie does not help the Crimson's drive for an Ivy championship, however.

The field hockey team falls out of the race for the Ivy title by knotting Dartmouth, 1-1. Lisa Cutone scores the lone Harvard goal.

October 24, 1987: The Harvard football team finds a new hero--diminutive running back Bob Glatz--and the Crimson roars past Princeton, 24-19. Glatz rushes for 70 yards and catches 64 yards worth of passes to help keep Harvard in the race for the Ivy title.

Yohe turns in a solid day--187 yards passing--but is outplayed by Princeton signalcaller Jason Garrett, who throws for 272 yards.

The men's soccer team (9-0-2) scores five goals, but barely survives Princeton, 5-4. Sophomore Nick D'Onofrio nets the game-winning goal 90 seconds into overtime.

The women's soccer team finds offense in a closet and wears it to Ohiri Field. Harvard knocks off Princeton, 2-0. Pinezich and Biggs get the Crimson goals. The Crimson writes: "The drought is over." And it wasn't even raining.

November 7, 1987: The Crimson football squad gets a taste--no, a 16-ounce glass-full--of humility. Harvard goes against the best team in Division I-AA, the Holy Cross Crusaders, and gets an unholy beating, 41-6.

Cross Heisman candidate Gordie Lockbaum, the fellow who plays both offense and defense and sells hot dogs in the stands at halftime, throws a late-game TD pass to cap the rout.

Meanwhile, the men's soccer team gets past the University of Pennsylvania, 3-1, to earn at least a share of the Ivy title.

November 8, 1987: They play the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team's theme song--"The Star Spangled Banner"--before the game and the Olympians send rockets glowing red white, blue and all 25 colors of the rainbow toward Harvard goalies John Devin and Michael Francis. Harvard looks a bit shellshocked after this one, a 15-3 Team USA triumph.

But Harvard Coach Bill Cleary, who played on the 1960 U.S. goid-medal team, is not upset. In fact, he skips across the ice after the game and offers his congratulations to the Olympians.

The Crimson writes, "Never has a losing coach been more amiable in defeat."

November 13, 1987: The Harvard hockey team begins its real season with a 5-0 blanking of Brown in Providence. Devin is injured, so Francis, a freshman, gets the start and comes up big.

Francis credits his defense with the win. "I didn't have to work, really," Francis says. He does, however, finish with 24 saves.

November 14, 1987: The Harvard football team defeats Penn, 31-14, and improves its league record to 5-1. The Crimson gets set to meet Yale in The Game. Only this Game will be THE GAME. The winner will carry home the Ivy League championship trophy.

"I'm so excited," Harvard Captain Kevin Dulksy says after the Penn game. "I want to go down to New Haven and play that game right now."

Playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the men's soccer team manages to get past the University of Connecticut, 1-0, even though the game is played in front of 8000 viscious Huskie partisans in Storrs, Conn. David Kramer scores the game-winner.

November 21, 1987: For the Harvard football team, it may be The Game, but it's just another game. And like in most of its games this season, the Crimson wins. Behind Hinz's phenomenal day at the races (the junior rushes for 161 yards on 26 carries), Harvard triumphs, 14-10, and earns its first outright Ivy title since 1975.

"This team just didn't quit," Restic says. "I've been down to the Yale Bowl a few times when we've just had so much enthusiasm coming down here, going through the tunnel, coming out on the field. And there's one danger--that you come out flat. I was never worried about that with this team. They were calm, cool, collected."

Alliteration for a poetic year.

Taking time out from the NCAA Tournament, the men's soccer team decides to finish up regular-season business. The booters tie Yale, 0-0, and capture the outright Ivy League title. Now, it's back to the business of winning a national crown.

November 29, 1987: Same time, next year. The men's soccer team made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 1986, and the Crimson makes it there again in 1987. Harvard handles Adelphi, 3-0, and presses forward

December 4, 1987: The Harvard men's hockey team travels to the circus tent know as Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. Fish are hurled on the ice. So is an object which, according to The Crimson, would "repulse many a nun." Oh, yes, a little hockey is played, too. Harvard triumphs, 3-1.

December 6, 1987: Same time, next year. In 1986, the men's soccer team advanced to the NCAA Final Four, only to fall to Duke. In 1987, the Crimson advances to the Final Four and falls in a shoot-out. San Diego State knocks in one more penalty kick than the Crimson and goes to the Final Two with a 2-1 victory.

January 9, 1988: The men's basketball team opens its season against one of the league's top clubs. Harvard is not up to the task. Despite a second-half comeback, the Crimson falls short, losing to Dartmouth, 66-58.

The women's team, however, handles the Green easily. Dartmouth finds its new home--Leede Arena--unfriendly, and Harvard prevails, 72-67.

February 1, 1988: The Harvard hockey team follows an age-old formula: Crimson plus Beanpot equals defeat. Boston University is the recipient of another Harvard disaster. The Terriers go to the 'Pot final after knocking out the Crimson, 6-4.

February 14, 1988: The men's hockey team (16-6 overall) assures itself of home ice for the ECAC playoffs with a 3-1 victory over Cornell. Crimson forward Andy Janfaza helps the cause with a goal that breaks a 1-1 tie in the third period.

The men's swimming team ropes Cornell, 114-79, pushing its record to 8-2 overall. The women's team gets the better of the Red, too, winning, 167-99. The women are now 6-0 in the Ivy League. Sweet swimming.

February 21, 1988: The women's hockey team captures its second straight Ivy League title after defeating Princeton, 4-2. Char Joslin scores a pair of goals to give the Crimson the victory. "It was definitely different than last year," Harvard Co-Captain Julie Sasner says. "Last year was new and exciting. This year, we had more confidence. It was also tougher. It's exciting in a completely different way."

The women's swimming team also wraps up an Ivy crown, swimming past Penn, 172-94. But even before the aquawomen can dry off, they are looking ahead to the Eastern Championships. "I am waiting for bigger and better things," Harvard Coach Maura Costin Scalise says.

February 28, 1988: Today is title day. Send a Harvard team into a game. Watch it come home with a title. No fewer than five Crimson squads take home titles today.

The men's hockey team escapes a late-game rally from St. Lawrence and wins, 6-5, in Canton, N.Y. The victory gives the Crimson the regular-season ECAC title.

The women's swimming team does what it had always planned to do. It wins the Eastern Championships. No problem. The Crimson finishes with 726 points--over a hundred more than second-place Penn State. "Winning the championship wasn't as exciting as watching it," Costin Scalise says.

The men's squash team keeps doing what it has done 68 straight times previously--namely, win. The racquetmen take out Yale, 6-3, and earn their sixth-straight nine-man and Ivy League championships. "This team didn't have the talent of the past four or five teams," Harvard Assistant Coach John Anz says. "But they worked hard all year to get at the level of past teams."

Not to be outdone, the women's squash team bumps off Princeton, 8-1, to capture the Ivy League and national nine-woman titles.

The women's hockey team captures the Ivy League tournament (again, for the second straight year) with a 4-3 victory over Princeton. The Crimson's comment: "The Harvard women's hockey team is very good at repeating things."

March 5, 1988: The men's hockey team gets past RPI in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament with a 6-4 victory in the second game of the series. Andy Janfaza skips a shot off RPI defenseman Rob Schena's leg and into the net. A favorite expression of Harvard Coach Bill Cleary comes to mind: "I'd rather be lucky than good."

The women's basketball team wraps up a share of the Ivy title with a 71-60 scorching of Brown. Sarah Duncan throws in 17 points, grabs 13 rebounds, dishes out five assists, blocks three shots and makes two steals. She also plays tuba in the band at halftime...

The men's basketball team ends its season on a typically disappointing note. The cagers fall to Brown, 103-101. Crimson Coach Peter Roby turns all colors of the rainbow before he blurts out, "The toughest thing about this loss is that you have to think about it all year. It's the last game. You can't go out there in a couple of days to get that bad taste out of your mouth."

March 11, 1988: "It was over before it was over," The Crimson writes. And it was. The men's hockey team never gets involved in its ECAC semifinal game against Clarkson and falls, 6-4. This is the second time in three years that Clarkson beats Harvard in the ECAC semis.

Harvard faces a consolation game it wants no part of.

March 12, 1988: The icemen turn the consolation game against Vermont into a scoring fest. Harvard captures a 7-1 victory and earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson writes, "It was the kind of game Harvard Coach Bill Cleary could wrap up and stuff in a capsule." If only he had the wrapping paper to do it.

St. Lawrence, meanwhile, captures the league crown.

March 19, 1988: "Michigan State Finishes Harvard" the headline in the Crimson reads. The icemen melt in the second game of a total-goals series with the Spartans.

"We just couldn't buy a goal," Cleary says, showing empty pockets.

April 16, 1988: Over the weekend, the baseball team captures three of four games against Brown and Yale. Freshman Aron Allen goes 10-for-12 on the weekend. The pitching is solid. Harvard seems destined to play a role in the EIBL pennant race.

The women's rugby squad beats Dartmouth and wins the New England Championships, 16-3. "I didn't expect it to be that easy," Harvard Co-Captain Eliza Schwarz says.

The Harvard cricket club suffers a stunning defeat at the hands of MIT 155-55. A few pigeons and one intrepid reporter observe the proceedings.

April 30, 1988: Having wrapped up the Ivy League title in midweek with a victory over Dartmouth, the women's lacrosse team would seem ripe for a letdown. But the Crimson manages to slip past the University of New Hampshire, 9-8, on a Karen Everling goal with 20 seconds left in the game.

The baseball team falls out of the EIBL pennant race--surrendering the title to Penn--by finishing 2-2 in weekend games against Columbia and Army.

The men's rugby team does what the men's hockey team only dreams about--it wins a Beanpot. The score in the final: Harvard 9, Northeastern 8.

May 14, 1988 The women's lacrosse team meets top-ranked Temple in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. Earlier in the year, the Owls had hooted past the Crimson, 13-8. They do it again, by the same score. The Crimson writes: "Losing is never easy to bear, but when you lose to the best team in the nation, it takes some of the sting out of it." Temple goes on to win the national championship.

May 15, 1988: The men's crew teams enjoy enormous success at the Eastern Sprints. Both the lightweight and heavyweight crews win their races.

Heavyweight Coach Harry Parker gets dumped into Lake Quinsigamond. His expression hardly changes throughout the dunking. He gives a press conference in his drenched clothing.

May 18, 1988: The Midshipmen are in tip-top shape. They beat the men's lacrosse team, 10-9, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Middies go on to get crushed by Syracuse, 23-9 in the Carrier Dome.