It was just not a good day for the Columbia soccer team Saturday. To begin with, the Lions' sky-blue flag atop Harvard Stadium was fluttering at half-mast as their game against the Crimson kicked off across the street at the Business School field.

Then, Columbia discovered their star forward, Fred Sock, who moves like a "whistling chaser" firecracker, would be marked one-on-one by Matt Bowyer. Throughout the game, the Lions could not buy a break from the refs. And on top of all that, there was this guy Nelson.

A sophomore returning from a leave of absence, Lee Nelson came off the bench Saturday to spark a rusty Crimson offense to a pair of goals as Harvard picked up a 2-1 victory in its season opener.

Before coach George Ford substituted the unknown Nelson into the game midway through a boring first half, the play had wandered back and forth and was somewhat sloppy. Ho hum, Crimson goalie Fred Herold had made three or four great saves, but that was to be expected of the talented junior. Chris Saunders was moving the ball well behind the Harvard forward line, but few solid scoring chances developed. The crisp passing game Ford would like to see from his players had, for the most part, turned a bit soggy.

Midfielder-forward Nelson would have no part of that. With less than five minutes remaining in the lackluster half, Nelson picked up a loose ball at midfield and slipped between two Columbia midfielders. With Ford screaming "work left!" from the sidelines, Nelson pinpointed a pass down the left wing to a sprinting Lyman Bullard, who had been ineffective through the first 40 minutes. No one, including the Columbia fullbacks and goalie, seemed to see Mike Lohrer sprinting towards the goalmouth from the right wing.

No one, that is, except Bullard, who beat his man, saved the ball on the endline and crossed to the charging Lohrer. Lohrer drilled the ball home from point blank range at 42:20 and, in the same motion, launched into a joyous victory leap. Across the street at Harvard Stadium, the Columbia flag still hung listlessly at half-mast as the first gun sounded.

The Columbia players were not about to hang listlessly in the second half, though. Fifteen minutes into the period, the Lions started to get hungry on offense. Sock broke loose from Bowyer and apparently had Crimson goalkeeper Herold at his mercy from close range when sweeper George Grassby bowled Sock over in an attempted tackle.

The Lions roared for a tripping call and a penalty kick, but they received only blank expressions from the referees in return. Suffering a stiff leg from the incident, Sock lost the edge on his speed for the rest of the game. With Sock injured and Herold repelling Columbia charge after Columbia charge, Lohrer's goal looked plumper and plumper as the half progressed.

Ah, but Nelson was eager to fatten up the Crimson lead. Two-thirds of the way through the period, he leapt high for a head ball and then the ensuing rebound. The second header bounded away, but Nelson charged forward as a Columbia midfielder was winding up to kick, took the sailing ball on his torso and burst upfield.

After carrying the ball past two defenders, Nelson found himself in a two-on-one rush with co-captain Bullard. Cutting inside, Nelson slipped a pass to his right for Bullard, who noticed the goalie out of the goal mouth and rocketed a shot across the goal mouth into the upper left corner of the nets at 32:10.

Kudos

"That was super!" Bullard said after the game. "Lee gave me two just beautiful passes." The two goals held up for the victory as Sock scored from close in at 35:00 for the single Lion tally.

"The first game is always a little nervous," Ford said after the contest, "and this is the worst game for me. But the defense was fantastic, and I'm glad it turned out as it did."

"We were a little lucky to get out of that," Bullard said. "We were a little rusty, but everything came together well."

As the players strode slowly off the field, Columbia's flag was waving gloriously at rusty, but everything came together well."

As the players strode slowly off the field, Columbia's flag was waving gloriously at full mast for the first time all day. The Lion's soccer performance could not so easily be resurrected.