Some varsity teams around here get two warmup contests before they have to take on tough opposition, but there's no such luxury for the Harvard soccer team. Three days after opening the season against Tufts, the Crimson booters entertain Amherst on the field adjoining the tennis courts.

Amherst may seem like small-time opposition, and of course the Lord Jeffs, along with Williams and Wesleyan, are dubbed the Little Three in comparison with Harvard (and two other Ivy League schools). But there is nothing little about the way they play soccer: Wesleyan beat Ivy League champion Brown this week, 1-0, and Amherst has won three of its last five games with the Crimson.

The last time the two teams met was 1962, when Harvard, with Chris O'Hiri, edged the Purple and White 4-3. It should be that close today.

Amherst has all but two of last year's starters back, and has added a pair of sharp-shooting foreigners: Tanzanian Jaffer Kassamali, and Cleanthis Nicolaides, a Greek transfer student. Another forward to watch is wing Rob Sherman, who was high scorer for the Jeffs last year.

Anchoring the halfback line is Chris Nielsen, a hustler billed as Amherst's most spectacular performer. Behind him Amherst uses a three-back defense similar to that installed by Harvard Coach Bruce Munro this year.

The only difference is that the visitors' three backs, led by Captain Scott Searl, played their positions regularly all last year. The University of Massachusetts got off only nine shots against this defense a few days ago, and Amherst goalie Buzz Schwartz had little trouble notching an easy 3-0 shutout.

If there is a shutout today, however, it won't be on the soccer field, where the Crimson's forward line of Scott Robertson, Lutz Hoeppner, Jim Saltonstall, and Dudley Blodget will keep Schwartz busy. What is worrying Munro is that Crimson goalie Richie Hammond may be even busier.

Harvard's new 4-3-3 alignment is theoretically a strong defensive setup, but not if Munro can't find three fullbacks to execute the theory. Karl Lunkenheimer is still nursing a sprained ankle, ind his substitute, sophomore Hilary Worthen, can't run as a result of kicks he received in the Tufts contest.

Coming this early in the season, the Amherst-Harvard game must be rated a toss-up. It should tell Coach Munro a great deal about his team, and, on top of Penn's opener at Brown and Columbia's debut at Princeton today, should provide the first meaningful line on the 1966 Ivy League race.