In some ways the Harvard-Middlebury lacrosse game was sad; in other ways, funny. As the score mounted monotonously toward the total of 23 to 3 for the Crimson, even Middlebury was laughing somewhat hysterically.
Led by attackman Grady Watts and midfielder Pete Sieglaff, thirteen players contributed goals to the debacle, and seven tallied at least twice. Coach Bruce Munro cleared his bench, but his tactic of playing defensemen at attack had only limited success in keeping the score down. A hapless Middlebury defense and an inexperienced goalie simply could do nothing to stop Crimson attackmen, midfielders, defensemen, and subs.
From the sidelines injured attackman Dave Bohn watched Sieglaff lead the scoring with five goals tying the Bohn total of 41, high among New England scores. At attack Watts scored twice and added six assists to his league-leading total. Attackman Dave Nyhan wound up the afternoon with three goals and three assists, and the defensemen's dream came true as Henry Field scored twice and had one assist.
First Half Scoring
Harvard scored fifteen goals almost at will in the first half, eight of which came in the big first period. Between the Nyhan shot which opened the scoring at 2:15 and Hal Louchhelm's goal at 14:32, Harvard scored at the rate of approximately a goal every 90 seconds, as Watts, John Reese, and Captain Tadgh Sweeney each got two.
The Middlebury attack, on the other hand, remained an unknown quantity, as sloppy clearing and wild passing kept the ball out of Harvard territory on the few occasions that Middlebury defenders broke up Crimson plays.
The second period was a replica of the first despite Munro's wholesale substitutions. Ted Fairbank took over in the goal for Gil Leaf, and in the first performance of the year put on a promising display of goaltending and clearing.
The scoring tightened up in the second half as loose play by Crimson second and third-stringers to some extent equalized the disparity between the teams. "I don't know how they got on the schedule," Munro had wondered before the game. He's probably still wondering.
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