NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 24--Playing in the dark, dreary, drizzly, muddy--and cold--conditions which plagued today's opening of the Harvard-Yale weekend, the Crimson freshman football team turned in an inspired performance against Yale, but lost, 7-3, after leading for three-quarters of the game.

"These boys are just terrific. I wouldn't be more proud of them if they were undefeated." Crimson coach Henry Lamar said after the contest, Harvard's fifth straight loss in a rather disappointing 2-5 season. "Everybody played his heart out; nobody let up," he noted. "We made only one mistake all afternoon--and they beat us on it."

The Yardlings dominated the play from the beginning of the game, when they marched deep into Bulldog territory on their first series of downs. Playing relentless offense and their best defense of the year, the hard-hitting freshmen kept the the ball locked in the Yale half of the field for the whole first half and most of the third and fourth quarters.

Although the Crimson threatened several times, it could not score, save for a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter by Gary Miller. As the game wore on, however, the three-point lead looked more and more as if it would be the winning margin.

Harvard guarded its lead and, in the third quarter, stified a Bulldog drive which ended on the Crimson 13-yard line, but, in the fourth quarter, the fear became the reality.

After a muffed fourth-down punt by Harvard that gave the Bulldogs the ball on the Crimson 33, Yale moved the ball up to the 20 on a series of line plunges. Then, Bulldog quarterback Ed McCarthy dropped back to pass, or so it seemed. Slipping the ball to fullback Pete Cummings on a draw play, he gave him an alley a mile wide through the center of Harvard's line, which he used to good advantage, rambling the 20 yards for the score.