NEW HAVEN, Conn, Nov, 22- The Harvard soccer varsity gained a share of three championships here today by defeating Yale, 3 to 2. The win gave the Crimson a tie with Brown for the Ivy League championship, undisputed possession of the Big three crown, and a share in the top spot in the New England soccer league.
Played under clear, sunny skies, the game failed to match the ideal weather conditions, Only occasional displays of accurate passing and hard shooting enlivened an otherwise sloppy and dull contest. Yale, in fact, managed to control the play for most of the game, but Harvard's strong defense prevented more Eli scoring.
Only in the final minutes did the two teams remember they were playing soccer, and then they kept the crowd on its feet for the last seven minutes. Excellent play by Lou Williams, Terry Winslow, and a last-minute save by Larry Coburn kept the Eli attack from scoring in the closing seconds.
Harvard's offense, though extremely erratic, clicked just often enough. Chris Ohiri, playing at center forward, once again led the Crimson attack, scoring two of the three goals. Fred Akuffo drilled the other past the Yalie goalie.
The Crimson controlled the ball in the early monents of the game, but couldn't pose a serious threat until midway through the quarter. Then Akuffo took a pass down the left sideline, beating the Yale fullback, and came in on the unprotected goalie to scoot the ball into the far corner of the net.
After this early goal, however, the Crimson lapsed into ineffectiveness. Yale maintained almost continuous possession of the ball, but their forwards and wings managed to waste their two good scoring opportunities.
In the second quarter, however, the Elis wasted little time. In a play practically the mirror-image of the one that Akuffo scored on, Yale's John Upton got behind the Crimson defense and drove in on goalie Nat Bowdich to blast a shot by him for the score.
With the score tied 1-1, Ohiri finally took things into his own hands. After one of his magnificent fakes had left three Yale defenders sprawled on the ground, Ohiri dribbled the ball in front of the net, faked once, and drove a straight hard shot past the helpless Bulldog goalkeeper into the center of the net. This acore, at 3:12 of the second period, ended the first-half scoring.
The third period had barely begun when Ohiri inereased the Crimson's margin The Harvard offense opened up the half with a heavy bombardment of the Eli goal, and as one shot bounced off the goalie's chest, Ohiri charged in and booted it back into the goal.
But while Yale continued to control most of the play, it still could not come up with any potent scoring threats. Finally. after two minutes of the fourth quarter. the Bulldog's George Landichested a high penalty kick by Bill Heyworth into the net for the game's final tally.
In today's freshmen contest, the Elis battled the Crimson to a 2-2 deadlock.
Dominating most of the first two quarters, the Yardlings tallied in the early minutes of the game and added their second score just before the half ended.
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