B.U. Tricks M. Soccer at Ohiri

You could say that Tyneside foot-ball is pretty cracking these days. Huh?

That's Tyne, as in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the northernmost major city in England. Football, as in what we call soccer, in which club team Newcastle United is currently undefeated and on top of the English Premier League.

And pretty cracking, as in damn good, both professionally and collegiately--witness hometown star Nick Bone, a true freshman whose hattrick yesterday kept alive secondranked Boston University's perfect season, as the Terriers squeaked past Harvard, 3-2.

"Squeaked" because Bone's seventh, eighth and ninth goals of the season were all that separated B.U. (9-0-0) from Harvard (1-6-0, 1-1-0 Ivy) at the end of the day; the Crimson kept the pressure on Terrier keeper Robert Forde consistently, outshooting the visitors by a 17-9 count.

But ultimately an old, familiar enemy ruined Harvard's chances at a colossal upset: poor finishing.

"We had three or four good chances in the first half," Harvard Head Coach Stephen Locker said, "If we put one or two of those away, it's a whole different game."

"That would have allowed us to play more relaxed in the second half and dictate the play. But we didn't put them away--we came out tentative in the second half, and we gave up a goal," he said.

And a soft goal, to boot. Confusion in the Harvard defense allowed Bone to take advantage of a deflection off teammate Chris Vincent and slot it home past junior Crimson keeper Ned Carlson.

Bone's goal made the score 2-1 in the 55th minute, and Harvard never really looked in the game again.

"It was a bad goal," senior captain Pepper Brill conceded. "When you're working hard, and then you give up an early one like that (in the second half), yeah, it's deflating."

In a way, it was surprising that the Crimson was still in a position in the second half to lose the game, because less than three minutes and only one shot into the game, Harvard already trailed. Again it was Vincent feeding Bone, this time at the top of the 18, and the shot knuckled under Carlson.

But rather than caving in, the Crimson struck back, and quickly. Harvard's first corner of the contest was taken beautifully by junior Chris Wojcik, who fired a flat, low ball into the box that was punched into the net by the head of senior Steve Gaffney.

Only from the set piece, though, could Harvard achieve the kind of breakthrough a team needs to upset the class teams which pepper its schedule. Great work up front by the likes of freshmen Toure McCluskey and Tom McLaughlin again either sailed wide or failed at the hands of Forde.

"You've got to take something from (a game like this)," sophomore T.J. Carella said, "We were playing well, building the ball up and controlling the midfield, but when we get into their third of the field, we tend to lose our composure."

Understandable enough--when you're on a five-game skid, on matter where the losses come from, the mind becomes a little frail. And that can kill you against a team like B.U., a side which swaggers all over the field with an upbeat attitude, even on a relatively bad day.

"Worst game we've played all season," Bone said, unequivocally. "But it says something about our team when we fail to function like that but still win."

As if to hammer that point home, the young All-America candidate completed his hat-trick 14 with minutes left with the class goal of the bunch, the product of a delicate Job from fellow freshman Matt Hammond and a nicely chipped finish over the shaky Carlson.

"He's a player--he's a tough kid, and you could tell he's had a lot of experience (even though he is only a freshman)," Locker said of Bone.

Harvard pressed all the way to the end, pulling a goal back with 1:06 to play off another Wojcik corner, this time falling for senior Tom Marcotullio the beneficiary.

But there wasn't enough time left for the Crimson to seriously threaten an equalizer, leaving Harvard to wonder what might have been and what is left to salvage from a season already turned sour.

"Right now, the shots aren't going in, and all we can do is work through it and shoot through it," Carella said.

"We have to get a little bit more maturity as a team, and I think we're on our way," Locker said. "But with six losses, obviously the Ivy League is all we have left."

And that road doesn't get easier, either--Harvard next travels to Penn, which defeated the same Columbia team that felled the Crimson for its sole League loss.

"We do control our destiny in the league," Brill said. "And we're starting to get as a team--we just haven't gotten the results yet." Boston U  3 Harvard  2