Crimson soccer coach George Ford predicted some surprises this season, but no one was really taking him too seriously...that is until last weekend.

The Harvard booters (3-1-1 overall) made believers out of a lot of people with a 1-0 victory over highly-touted Cornell. The Big Red was nationally ranked going into the game and considered a strong contender for the Ivy League title.

Ford's squad managed to drop Cornell out of the national picture in this week's poll, knocking the Big Red (1-1-0) from the top of the Ivies. Harvard now stands second in the league with a 2-0 slate behind a powerful Brown team that is unbeaten in three league games.

Brown found it somewhat tough going last weekend, however, up at Dartmouth, providing some hope that the Bruins may be beatable. The Big Green, who are tied with Cornell and Columbia for third place in the league with two points each, had the score knotted at 2-2 at 13:25 of the second half.

But the Bruins came alive and blitzed Dartmouth for three goals in a matter of minutes to win the game. Sophomore sensation Fred Pereira, who leads the Ivies in scoring with five goals and an assist, tallied twice while Jose Violente (Brown's football place kicker) scored the other goal.

Columbia (0-1-2) seemingly had its game in hand against Yale last weekend, but a routine shot by the Elis' Peter Spokes evened the score at three with only five minutes remaining. It was Spokes's second goal of the contest; Tony Fowler of Columbia also had a pair.

Yale is now 0-1-1 along with Princeton, which did not face an Ivy foe last weekend. Penn, which also took on non-league competition, now stands winless in two tries against Brown and Cornell. The Quakers had ranked as pre-season threats to give Brown a battle.

So Harvard has been thrust into the role of a contender in what was thought to be a rebuilding year. And part of the reason for the Crimson success has been the outstanding defensive play of the team, especially the goal keeping of Ben Bryan.

Bryan tops the Ivy statistics with a perfect 0.00 goals-against average in two games, while he has allowed just two goals the entire season. Wesleyan beat Bryan for Harvard's only loss; the University of Connecticut also scored on the Crimson in a 1-1 tie.

UConn fired off 25 shots during that game and 24 of them got past the fullbacks forcing Bryan to make the saves. Fullbacks Jeff Hargadon, Ralph Booth and Bob Thompson pulled together, however, against the Big Red and prevented 11 of 18 shots from reaching the Crimson goalie.

On offense, Harvard has scored only four goals this season, with four different players getting the tallies. Forwards Lyman Bullard (inside right), Bob Magee (outside right) and Steve Hines (outside left) as well as center halfback Mark Zimering each have a goal.

Zimering leads in the team stats on the basis of having an assist as well, along with forward Eric Zager (inside left) who has two assists also for two points.

The other assist went to Dave Acorn, who is injured and could be out for as long as three weeks.

Harvard's next contest comes against Dartmouth on Saturday, followed by an important regional game Tuesday against Williams. The Crimson moved up to seventh from 14th in this week's New England soccer poll, while Williams is rated sixth. A win over the Ephmen would boost Harvard in the important New England poll and send it towards a shot at a possible NCAA post season tournament berth. The top four University Division teams are selected to the tourney. This week's poll has Brown, UConn Springfield, UMass, Keene State and Williams ahead of the Crimson in the region.

With Acorn the only injury, Ford's well-conditioned squad should have a good shot at a surprising sweep of the next two contests, and a chance to prove this is more than a mere rebuilding year.