Medford, October 4--Chris O'Hiri scored them all as the varsity soccer team opened its season with a 5-0 shutout over Tufts at Medford today. An admiring Tufts crowd watched O'Hiri score in the first and second quarters and three times in the third.
The Crimson outclassed a slow and obviously inferior Tufts contingent, easily controlling the ball and shooting almost at will. Harvard goalie John Adams did not get his hands on the ball once in the first half as fullbacks Louie Williams and Charlie David easily blocked the rare Elephant shots.
Smooth play by halfbacks Tony Davies, Billy Ward, and Emmanuel Boye gave the line an ample supply of shooting opportunities, and many solid kicks by the Crimson forward wall either bounced away off the posts or missed by inches.
But to the Tufts supporters who crowded the sidelines the chief interest was the performance of Crimson center-forward O'Hiri.
"Where's the Nigerian guy?" "How many has that Nigerian got?" were the questions asked by newly-arrived spectators. In the second period a tricky O'Hiri pass went begging between two Crimson linemen. "Just like Cousy, of the Celts," a fan observed. "He fools his own teammates just like Cousy."
Nor was O'Hiri disappointing. On a fast-breaking play moments before the gun in the first period, he maneuvered behind the Tufts defense, took a crisp pass from right inside Seamus Malin, and drilled the ball past the helpless goalie into the far corner of the cage.
Less than three minutes later at the start of the second quarter O'Hiri lined a clear left-footed shot into the upper corner of the goal from the right rim of the circle.
Harvard completely dominated first-half play, to such an extent that Coach Bruce Monro could substitute his sophomores freely and give them valuable minutes of varsity experience. Whenever a Tufts defender broke up a Crimson play, Munro's halfbacks or fullbacks were also on the spot to retrieve the ball and apply the pressure again.
In the third period, O'Hiri scored a third time from a scramble for a corner kick in front of the Tufts goal. Minutes later he took a pass at the circle from inside John Thorndike, dribbled to his right, reversed back ten feet to his left and drove a picture shot past the goalie from directly in front of the cage.
His last score was no sweat as three Tufts defenders trailed behind him until his shot from close-in ended the day's scoring.
With O'Hiri and most of the rest of the first team of the bench the game evened up in the fourth quarter and goalie Adams was actually pressed to make some fine saves.
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