Two youths slugged and robbed a Winthrop House junior behind the Eliot House squash courts early Wednesday night. They took $6 from his wallet and left him with a bruised neck, a black-and-blue left eye, and a cracked rib.

The student was Alan J. Zuch of J-entry in Standish Hall. His two assailants are unidentified; one wore blue jeans and glasses.

The attack occurred at about 9:30 p.m. next to the steps leading into the squash courts. Zuch was returning to his room when the two stopped him and asked for a light.

He shifted the quart of milk he was carrying into his right hand, and was reaching into his left pocket when one of the two youths pinned his arms behind him. The taller of the two, who wore the glasses, punched him in the eye.

Zuch, who remembers only faintly what happened after the blow, thinks the other youth smashed his neck with "something hard." The junior sank to his knees as the two took the money from his wallet.

The attack took less than a minute.

Zuch imagined they were rushed, since they left his ring and silver cigarette case untouched.

The junior remembers lying face down on the sidewalk for a few minutes until another student helped him to his feet. He then went back for another quart of another quart of milk.

On the advice of the Winthrop superintendent, Zuch reported the beating to the Cambridge police, but could give them no leads other than a meager description of one youth. "The attack happened so fast I hardly thought of a thing," he said.

Zuch, who is six feet, says only that they were at least his size and looked like "locals."