The Harvard soccer team overcame a 2-0 half-time deficit yesterday to tear apart Dartmouth with crisp passing and sharp shooting that sent the ball into the Big Green nets four times in the second half.

The 4-2 win establishes Harvard as one of the top contenders for the Ivy league championship with a 2-1 record. Princeton, playing at Penn today, is the only team still undefeated. Should the Tigers lose to soccer power Penn, Harvard will be tied for the Ivy lead with Brown, Penn, and Princeton.

The Booters started out the game cold after the team bus driver took the "scenic" route to Hanover, N.H., making the trip 50 minutes longer and forcing the team to play with only a 10 minute warm-up. "The kids really felt the travel the first half," Harvard coach Bruce Munro said.

Dartmouth jumped off to a quick lead scoring first 13 minutes into the first half. Junior Frank Gallo, tallied the goal for Dartmouth.

Before Harvard had a chance to recover, Bruce Bokor scored the Big Green's second goal only 25 seconds after the first. The first half ended with 10 shots on goal by Dartmouth and seven shots by the Crimson, but the score remained 2-0 in Dartmouth's favor.

The second half was a completely different story. Neither players nor coaches could explain Harvard's unprecedented comeback. Dartmouth coach Bruce Beim said after the game that his catenazio defense broke down because of individual errors, giving the Crimson opportunities that were converted into goals.

Munro attributed Harvard's comeback to an inspired second-half effort. "We had a good talk during the half-time break and then we went after them," Munro said.

"We were behind, yet we knew we were a better team, then we understood that something was wrong," Crimson halfback Bob Auritt said after the game.

Halfback Ric LaCivita provided the spark that ignited the Crimson offense. Forty seconds into the second half LaCivita made a great individual effort to score in ront of a crowded net on a pass from Art Faden.

It was LaCivita again six minutes into the half scoring on a shot which bounced off the Dartmouth fullback's head into the goal.

Harvard halfbacks controlled the center, denying the Big Green offense the ball. Dartmouth only managed to put meager pressure on the Harvard goal. Crimson goalie Steve Kidder was forced to make only two saves in the entire second half.

The ballgame was played in Dartmouth territory and the continuous pressure on Dartmouth defense finally brought results 37 minutes into the second half when Mario Gobbo scored to give the Crimson the lead.

Two minutes before the game ended John Littlefield took advantage of an open shot from a tough angle to seal the Harvard win with a fourth goal.

Munro said he was elated with the win and the booters said they are now optimistic about prospects for the rest of the season. For the first time this year Harvard has come back to win and scored four goals in the process.

It remains to be seen if the spark that LaCivita provided will remain with the Harvard offense in its showdown against Penn next Friday at Penn.