Harvard's lacrosse team crushed Dartmouth, 9-3, Saturday in Hanover to remain in a third-place tie with Yale, its opponent this weekend in Cambridge.

Elsewhere in Ivy League lacrosse, Yale topped Princeton, 12-2, and Cornell clinched another League title by beating Brown, 12-4. Elsewhere in the nation, Ricky Nelson turned 31.

The Harvard-Dartmouth game went just about as expected. The Crimson piled up a 7-1 halftime lead over the winless Indians and then coasted to a victory. Not surprisingly, the game was spiced with fights. The only big surprise was the pleasant weather.

Phil Zuckerman, John Hagerty, and Verdi DiSesa once again led the Harvard offense in scoring. Zuckerman's three goals moved him into a second-place tie with Brown's Bob Scalise in the league scoring. Both have 19 points. Cornell collapsed on Scalise Saturday and held him scoreless.

Zuckerman's first two goals gave the Crimson a 2-0 lead after eight minutes, and Dave Crawford and captain Rick Frishie added one each before the Indians finally scored at 10:00.

Crease attackman Gle Landolt set up Zuckerman's third goal ten minutes later, and soon afterwards, DiSesa scored his two goals within a 20-second span to virtually end the game.

Of course, the Crimson had to be somewhat careful. Two years ago. Harvard led, 3-2, at halftime and then went on to lose, 9-6, and give Dartmouth its only win of the year.

Cornell coach Cliff Stevenson was bewildered yesterday as he tried to explain his team's loss to Cornell. Despite out-shooting the Big Red, 50-31, Brown lost by eight goals. "I was quite upset by the officiating in the first half, and we had six piped shots," Stevenson said.