Crimson soccer coach George Ford was taking no chances yesterday as he put his team through another one of his long and grueling practice sessions in preparation for the varsity booters' game against Cornell here today at 10:30.

Cornell, which is tied with Harvard for third place in the Ivy League, will once again be depending on a strong defense headed by co-captain Jon Ross, who last year made honorable mention on the All-Ivy team. Ross has helped provide his team with three shutouts straight in their last three games.

Halfback Joe Mui will be one of Cornell's key offensive players again this year. Ford's squad will be trying to keep him from repeating his performance last year, when he scored 2 of the 3 points in Cornell's shutout match against the Crimson.

The Cornell squad perennially presents something of an unknown to Harvard in the form of new junior college transfers. This year is no exception: the Crimson booters will be defending themselves against Cornell's Abdullah Nezaj and Dave Sarachen, two new players who are among Cornell's top scorers.

Harvard's Ben Bryan will be tending the Crimson goal once again. Home team soccer fans are hoping that Bryan's performance today will at least equal his exceptional work as goalkeeper in Wednesday's tie with UConn. Bryan was credited with more than 20 saves in that bout.

The Crimson offense, in top physical conditioning after all those intense workouts Coach Ford enjoys, should be much less polite today than it was last Saturday against Columbia. In that contest Harvard outpaced the Lions by a very gentlemanly 1-0. Primed by recent victories, Ford's squad should be in a less dainty mood.

By noon the Crimson will know if all that conditioning was worth it.