The varsity soccer team opens its Ivy League season this morning when it takes on an inscrutable Columbia eleven on the Business School Field.

After their impressive victory over Williams last Wednesday, the book says that varsity should have no trouble with a Lion team that last year finished dead last in the Ivy League, with an 0-6-1 record.

Indications are that Columbia isn't all that bad this year. In fact they have the same record as Harvard -- 3 and 0 -- and, like the Crimson, have only allowed one goal to their opposition. To be sure, Columbia's first two victories over Lafayette and King's Point mean no more than Harvard's romps against Tufts and B.U. But last week the Lions upset a strong Princeton team 1 to 0.

They Got Desire

Comparative recordology is a tenuous exercise at best. What is sure is that Columbia will be way, way up for the game. They played their only good soccer last year against Harvard, gaining a 0-0 tie which cost the Crimson a share of the Ivy title. Columbia thinks of the Harvard game as The Game.

But Coach Bruce Munro's boys will undoubtedly be ready for Columbia's fervor. They spent Thursday and Friday sharpening their game, speeding it up and developing accuracy in their long passes.

If the Lions crave Crimson blood, Harvard scents the majesty of an Ivy League Crown and knows that this morning the season really begins.