The Crimson lacrosse team dropped a 9-8 heartbreaker to a strong Yale squad Saturday at Soldiers' Field when the Elis scored at 1:47 in the third sudden-death overtime period.

A scant two minutes earlier, Bill Tennis had sent the contest into sudden death when he knotted the score at 8-8 on a 25-yard shot with only five seconds left in the second overtime period.

At the end of regulation play the score was 7-7, and the teams played the two mandatory four-minute overtime periods before going into sudden death.

Neither team was able to score in the first overtime, but the Elis took a short-lived lead when they scored midway through the second. Yale's grip on victory appeared to tighten when a Crimson penalty with 55 seconds remaining gave the Elis the ball and left Harvard short-handed.

But the Crimson got it back on a stalling call 25 seconds later. The stickmen carried the ball into the Yale zone, only to lose possession of it in a goal-crease scramble. But it rolled back to Tennis, who blasted a desperation shot past the Bulldog goalie.

The Crimson squad played a fine first half against New England's third-ranked team. Harvard grabbed a 4-2 lead, only to see Yale tie it up and then go ahead in the third period.

It was the Harvard defense--and especially the play of goalie Leroy Thompson--that kept the contest close. Thompson made 26 saves, 14 in the first half alone, in his best game of the season.

The Crimson hopes to add a victory to its season log on Wednesday against a mediocre MIT squad.

Co-captain Jim Quinn wasn't overjoyed by today's outcome. "We played a very sloppy game," he said.