Flat, sloppy performances against lesser teams on the road appeared to be only a bad memory from the past under Harvard's agressive rookie coach, Billy Cleary. But last Saturday night in Durham, New Hampshire, as Cleary growled on the bench, his players threw away their number one position in the ECAC, collapsing to U.N.H., 4-3 in overtime.

Harvard has gone into sudden death six times over the last two years, and the Crimson has yet to come out on top. Its performance Saturday duplicated the horrendous road games Harvard teams turned in last year against Brown and two years ago against Penn.

U.N.H. has now upset Clarkson, St. Lawrence, and Harvard over a period of four days, and when Guy Smith rammed in the winning goal after only 42 seconds of overtime, the 4000 fans who jammed Snively Arena two hours before game time went completely wild.

Those fans--3000 of whom were students--were almost as happy three periods earlier, when the Wildcats responded to the partisan crowd by coming back from a 2-0 deficit with two goals in 30 seconds.

Harvard had jumped to an early lead with a goal by Billy Corkery at 6:09. Taking a good centering pass from Dave Hynes, Corkery drilled a 20 foot slapshot past U.N.H. goalie Bob Smith. Bob Goodenow made it 2-0 at 12:13, slipping a backhander through after taking a feed from Larry Desmond, but New Hampshire was clearly overdue for a goal.

Harvard's coverage had become non-existent midway through the period, and U.N.H. muffed several good chances. Finally, at 12:51, the Wildcats cashed in on a cheap goal, as sophomore star Gordie Clark bounced in a slow wrist shot from 45 feet. With the crowd in an uproar, U.N.H. immediately tied it up, popping home the equalizer from three feet as the Harvard defensemen vacantly looked on.

The crowd quieted down in the dull second period, but the Wildcats came to life briefly at 15:58. Harvard defenseman Doug Elliott picked up his second penalty of the night, and U.N.H. quickly capitalized with a tip-in goal off a slap shot from the point.

Cleary obviously had a few words for his team between periods, and the Crimson looked slightly better in the third period. Dave Hynes put Harvard back in the game at 12:09, turning a defenseman on a full-length rush and dekeing goalie Smith to make it 3-3. U.N.H.'s slow defense almost cost the wildcats the game in the final minutes, as Harvard blew two breakaways.

A penalty gave U.N.H. an excellent chance with less than two minutes remaining, but despite a 53 second stretch of constant pressure on Harvard goalie Joe Bertagns, the Wildcats couldn't come up with a goal.

U.N.H. did not blow its next chance. Andy Burns picked up a holding penalty after only a few seconds of overtime, and U.N.H. sank the Crimson a morrent later. Guy Smith took a pass from behind the net, whirled around, and whipped a no-angle backhander past Bertagns to win it, 4-3.

Bertagna finished the game with 29 saves and played very well at times. New Hampshire's Smith kicked out 26 shots and played well the entire time.

The hockey team will try to recover from the U.N.H. flasco tonight against Northeastern. The Huskies are not quite as bad as last year's 7-22 team, but they are still managing to lose most of their games. The Crimson may be flat, but if Cleary has his way, his team will reassert itself with a vengeance.