Maimed and exhausted, the freshman soccer team came to the end of its six-game winning streak at Princeton Saturday. But the 3-1 defeat does not mark the ruin of a fine season or even the climax; the best is yet to come.
The Brown freshmen, big, tough, and undefeated in 10 games, host coach Dana Getchell's squad tomorrow. Harvard, even after a loss, is still the team that rumbled over its first five opponents without giving up a goal, and then rallied to beat Andover 2-1 in overtime. The Brown game promises to be the finest in a season of fine games, and only a fool would rate the two teams at other than even money.
Actually, the Andover game may have decided the Princeton contest in advance. In edging Andover, the Crimson lost several important players through injuries and then had only three days to recuperate. "When we went to Princeton, we had to leave two men in Cambridge," said Getchell. "We weren't ready and there was nothing we could do about it."
Left behind were center half Marsh Azikiwe with a broken bone in his hand, and center forward Haven Pell, the team's high scorer. Starters Joe Gould ("definite varsity potential," according to Getchell) and Kim Batteau were also hurt, but played nevertheless.
Whatever the outcome of the Brown game, the Yardlings will probably be remembered as the squad that played for over 400 minutes, against six other teams, before being scored upon. Andover's goal was something of a freak, at that. In a mix-up in front of the Crimson nets, a Harvard fullback accidentally kicked the ball away from his own goalie, and right to a waiting Andover player.
Instead of damaging the team's morale, the goal triggered what Getchell called "our best game of the season" and an overtime victory. "I think we knew we'd be scored upon eventually," he said.
Getchell describes Brown as "very skillful. The Bruins are led by Vic De Jong, a forward from the Netherlands. Comparative scores are little help in predicting the game's outcome: Brown beat Connecticut and Andover 4-0 and 3-1 respectively, while Harvard's margins of victory were 3-0 and 2-1.
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