Jim Saltonstall, hugged tightly by the Princeton defense, fed a pass to his right wing, Dudley Blodget. Blodget pivoted and whipped the ball back to the middle. Inside Bill Schaefer timed the pass a foot off the ground and solidly smashed it fifteen yards into the goal.

That one moment, thirty seconds before the end of the first half, captured the tone of the Harvard soccer team's showing as it polished off Princeton 2 to 0 here Saturday.

The game was nowhere as close as the winning margin. The Crimson toyed with the Tiger booters for two quarters before it registered its superiority on the scoreboard.

Play in the first period was exclusively in the Princeton half, except for three short-lived Tiger fast breaks.

In the second quarter, Hugh Polk led Harvard's precision forward line in setting up high scorer Charlie Njoku. Njoku sped three grass-cutters by the Princeton goalie, but twice an alert fullback was there to save the score and once Blodget couldn't connect with the open goal.

Schaefer Saves

But as the half neared its end and the fans started to sense a futility in the Crimson's sparkling play, Schaefer connected.

One goal was all Harvard needed, but the Crimson's second tally, after ten minutes of the third quarter, ripped away the possibility of the Tigers' fluking a tie. Polk bounced in a shot from eight yards away, off a rebound from Dave Taft's attempt to convert a corner kick.

For the rest of the second half, the game deteriorated in both excitement and quality of play, with the referees' whistles dominating action and the fans' attention.

Rich Hammond, shutting out Princeton in his first full game since he was injured three weeks ago, provided stability at goalie, the only weak link Harvard has shown in its recent victories.

Hammond was never seriously tested, however. The halfback line of Fred Akuffo, Andy Kydes, and Captain Bill Kerstetter joined individual standout Tony Marks in choking off any threat by the Tigers, who are winless in Ivy play.

Harvard's victory sets up its contest at Brown next Saturday as the Ivy game of the year. The second-place Crimson is one game behind the undefeated Bruins, who whipped Harvard's lone conqueror, Cornell, 3 to 1 at Ithaca Saturday.