The varsity lacrosse team recovered from a slow start on Saturday to register its first Ivy League victory of the campaign, charging past the Yale Bulldogs, 14-6.

Last year, the Elis edged the Crimson in overtime, 9-8, and for a while on Saturday it looked like Yale would finish Harvard off even quicker this time around. After nine minutes of play, the Bulldogs led, 3-0.

On the Attack

But then Harvard's attack got going. Chico MacKenzie notched two goals in less than a minute on passes from Hank Leopold and Steve Martin.

Yale stretched the lead back to two, but attackman Billy Tennis tallied an unassisted goal for the Crimson late in the first quarter to pull them close, 4-3.

Tennis stayed hot in the second quarter, passing off to Leopold to tie the game and then connecting on another unassisted effort to give Harvard the lead.

Yale bounced back to knot the score again, but then MacKenzie finished the Bulldogs off. He scored on an assist from Tennis to give Harvard the lead for good and then beat goalie Angus Gephart to give the Crimson a two-goal lead at halftime, 7-5.

Coach Bob Scalise's charges had Yale on the run and refused to let up after the intermission, outscoring the impotent Elis, 5-1, in the last 30 minutes of play.

The triumph improved the Crimson record to 6-3. The strickmen need only two more victories for a winning season and face, among their remaining six foes, Williams, a 15-9 victim last year, and MIT.

Harvard has defeated the Engineers for the Cambridge championship 15 straight years. The two teams will meet on Wednesday at the Business School Field.

Harvard's offense continues to be sparked by the high-scoring attack of MacKenzie and Tennis, who each totalled five points at Yale, and sophomore playmaker Steve Martin. Tennis leads the team with 23 goals and 12 assists for 35 points. MacKenzie (19-7-26) and Martin (7-19-26) are tied for second.

Coming into Saturday's contest, Bulldog attackman Paul Sferazza had notched 30 goals in 10 games, and his running mates, Paul Catterton and Jim Graham, had combined for 44 assists. Harvard's young defense held the attack trio to only five points.

Faced-off

Against Yale, Harvard's effort was again aided by the face-off men. Led by Sandy White, they combined to take 15 of 22 face-offs from the Elis.