M. Booters Upset Tigers in OT

No one will ever accuse the Harvard men's soccer team of playing out the string.

Although eliminated from the Ivy League race, the Crimson stormed out yesterday at Ohiri Field with its best offensive output of the Ivy season, running past Princeton, 4-2, in overtime.

Freshman Peter Cochran, after taking a feed from Roger Chapman, worked a beautiful drive up the field and drilled a shot into the left corner of the net only 1:01 into overtime to put the Crimson ahead to stay. Sophomore Jeremy Amen's goal six minutes into the second overtime put the game out of reach, dealing a major blow to the Tigers' Ivy title chances.

Harvard dominated the overtime period, scoring the two goals and missing out on two other great opportunities by Chapman and Nick D'Onofrio.

"When the pressure's off, it's always a little easier to play better," said Derek Mills, whose goal at 21:30 of the first half increased Harvard's lead to 2-0. "We wanted to end in a victory, especially against Princeton, to whom we've never lost in my four years at Harvard."

The Crimson win knocked Princeton (9-3 overall, 4-2 Ivy) out of the league lead for the NCAA automatic bid to be earned by the winner of the Ivy League race. Yale's 2-1 win over Penn pushed the Elis into sole possession of first place with a 5-1 record.

Harvard (6-8 overall, 3-3 Ivy) doubled its offensive output for the Ivy season in yesterday's game, having entered it with only two goals in Ivy play.

"The only difference [offensively] is that we scored first," Chapman said. "When we lost before, they scored first and sat on the lead. [Princeton] had to come out and attack."

Despite the score, it was Princeton that actually had the most scoring opportunities in the game, as the Tigers were able to get off threatening shots consistently throughout the game, but the Crimson made its few chances count.

Only 4:55 into the game, sophomore Brian Enge tallied the first goal, and Mills' goal widened Harvard's lead to two goals.

"We knew we'd have the advantage in quickness," Harvard Coach Mike Getman said. "Everything we worked on and everything we felt we were strong in came together."

Princeton pulled to within one goal at halftime when Andrew Dechet, the Ivy League's leading scorer, fed Anthony Mastromatteo for a score at 31:38. The Tigers tallied the tying goal with 19 minutes remaining in regulation on a goal by Jonathan "Levis" Jeans, assisted by goaltender John Dziadzio.

But the overtime was all Harvard, led by Chapman and D'Onofrio.

"It's kind of upsetting because we could have played like this all season," D'Onofrio said. "We have much more talent this season than our record indicates. We're just missing something."

Harvard finishes its season at Brown Friday.