What had started out to be a great day for soccer yesterday quickly degenerated into yet another awful Cambridge afternoon. As the weather deteriorated so did the play of the freshman soccer team, which had hoped to bounce back against Brown from a disastrous 4-1 loss in its opener against Phillips Exeter last Wednesday.

Disputed Goal

The match started out evenly enough, with both Harvard and Brown scoring in the first few minutes of play. But when Brown was awarded a disputed goal shortly afterward, the Yardlings' play "just wasn't nearly as high-spirited," as coach Bruce Munro said afterward.

There were times when the Harvard team appeared to have been transformed into a massive blood clot, as its members providentially got in each other's way while the bigger and rougher Brown team tallied points with little opposition.

Brown's goalkeeper Ted von Gerichten did a very creditable job at keeping away Harvard's mere handful of shots-on-goal, but Harvard's Fred Herold did as well as he was able in fending off all but four of Brown's nearly 20 shots.

It could have been a much nicer day for all concerned had not Mother Nature conspired to drop temperatures to about 40 degrees and to send the wind howling out of the west to confound and befuddle offensive kickers on both teams.

It was a great day to catch pneumonia. But a very poor day indeed for Harvard soccer.