Dartmouth upset highly favored Columbia, 2-0, last Saturday, leaving Harvard and Brown in a head-to-head clash for the Ivy League soccer championship this weekend in Cambridge.
The Crimson had no difficulty beating Princeton, 4-1, for its fifth consecutive win, and Brown came from behind to defeat Cornell, 2-1. In another near-upset, Penn was forced into overtime before finally edging Yale, 1-0.
Harvard now has a three-point lead in the league standings with two games to play. The Crimson needs only a tie against either Brown or Yale to successfully defend its Ivy title. Columbia's loss to Dartmouth eliminated the Lions from the race for the championship.
Dartmouth has only two victories this fall, but both wins have come against the league's leading teams. In the last four weeks, the Indians have beaten Brown and Columbia but have lost to Princeton and Yale.
Columbia was without starting goalie Andy Lichter, but it was the Lion's forward line the failed to stop the Indians. In its last three games, Columbia had scored ten goals, but Dartmouth's fullbacks shut out the Lions for the first time this fall.
Dartmouth scored both of its goals on crosses from the wing, the first at ten minutes of the first period and the clinching goal only one minute into the second half. Goalie John Orange recorded his fourth shutout of the year.
Penn out shot Yale 37-10, but Eli goalie Ken Pasternak sent the game into overtime with 19 saves to his credit. The Quakers ended the match in only 45 seconds of the first overtime on a head-shot by Bob Watkins.
Frederico Rojas knocked in a rebound to give Cornell an early 1-0 lead against Brown. But the Bruins evened the match just before the half on a head pass from Dick McEvoy to Rudy Zeller, who headed the ball into the net.
The outcome of the game remained in doubt until All-Ivy fullback chip Young headed in a corner kick with only 16 minutes left in the game.
Solomon Gomez, defending Ivy League scoring champion, retained his league lead with a goal and an assist against Princeton. The Harvard captain has four goals and leads the standings with five assists.
Gomez's closest competition is teammate Charlie Thomas, who scored twice against the Tigers and assisted on Gomez's tally. Thomas leads the Ivy League with six goals in five games, and has two assists.
Crimson goalies Shep Messing and Bill Meyers lead the league with only three goals allowed in five matches Together, Meyers and Messing have made 56 saves.
Besides the Harvard-Brown match Saturday. Columbia will play Penn for third place in the standings, Dartmouth and Cornell will battle for a first division finish, and Princeton and Yale will try to escape the Ivy cellar.
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