A spirited Crimson soccer team, ignoring a sea of mud and a hapless crew of Tiger defensemen, sailed to a smashing shutout over Princeton Saturday.

The victory on the rain-soaked Princeton field was the most inspiring display of team enthusiasm, precision passing, and scoring power Bruce Munro's team has turned in this season.

With Crimson star Chris Ohiri on the sidelines for most of the game, sophomore center forward Cormac O'Malley sparked the sharp offensive play. Time after time O'Malley toppled into the mud, but only after ramming precise passes to alert Crimson wings. O'Malley scored twice and set up Harvard's finest goal of the season with a perfectly timed pass to Ohiri for the Crimson's fifth tally.

Ohiri, playing right wing in the fourth quarter, dribbled through the Tiger halfbacks and passed to O'Malley, who hesitated, sucked out the Tiger fullback and flicked the ball back to wing. Ohiri stopped, drawing Princeton goalie Pete Svastich out for a play, and then pushed the ball past him into the far left corner of the goal.

Tiger halfbacks often offered only token opposition to the Crimson press: Tiger passing was sloppy, its offense impotent. ("We're not as bad as we look," said the Princeton coach.) When the Tiger line managed to blunder through Harvard halfbacks Emmanual Boye, Fred Churchill, and Larry Coburn. Crimson fullback Lou Williams consistently blasted the ball 30 yards upfield to the Harvard line. With Williams and Terry Winslow clearing loose balls, goalie Wally Whitney had to make only one desperate save. He threw himself at a hard shot to the corner of the goal and batted the ball down for Williams to clear.

In its five losses this season Harvard proved unable to score early in the game, but against Princeton the Crimson scored twice in the first period. Left inside John Thorndike headed in the first goal on a corner kick from Mike Kramer.

Tony Davies, playing inside right, pushed a loose ball in for the second goal. Late in the first half, Davies trapped a Kramer pass and rifled the ball into the right corner of the goal for the fourth score. O'Malley chalked up the third by tapping in a loose ball from the quagmire in front of the Princeton goal.

When Ohiri plays center forward both teams tend to bunch in front of the enemy goal; against Princeton the Crimson line found holes through which to score. O'Malley hooked a loose ball through such an opening for Harvard's sixth goal. As the ball floated slowly past the goalie, Ohiri gave it a second thrust with a diving head that left him sprawled eagle-fashion in the goal.

Thorndike collected his second and Harvard's seventh with a sharp kick from ten yards out late in the final quarter.