Junior attackman Steve Martin fired in a hat trick and added seven assists Saturday to lead the stickmen to their first victory over Brown in more than a decade, 18-11. Martin's ten points fell one short of the Harvard single-game record. It was the second time this Spring that a Harvard player had made a run at the Crimson standard: freshman Pete Predun collected five and five in his debut against Mass Maritime in March.
The yardling hot shot had another good day Saturday, pumping in five tallies, while Harvard's third attackman, senior Chico MacKenzie, connected four times. All three players ran their season point totals to an even 30 points with their productive afternoon against the Bruins.
Brown was in the thick of the fight until the middle of the second quarter. Rich Abdo scored to cut an early Crimson lead to 5-3. Earlier, senior attackman Rick Carell had clicked twice to keep the Bruins within striking distance.
But then Martin scooped up a loose ball, scampered behind the net, and fed the pill out to Jerry Keleher for a 6-3 bulge. Half a minute later, Martin came up with another loose ball and beat Brown goalie Rick Gittleman himself.
After Gordie Nelson ran past the entire Bruin defense to score and MacKenzie set up Predun for his third goal of the day, Harvard led at the half, 9-3.
In the first minute of the second half, 200-lb. defenseman Chris Ecker barrelled up field on a fast break and fed the ball to MacKenzie for Harvard's tenth tally.
The Crimson defensemen gave Brown fits all day, carrying the ball into the offensive end themselves as many times in one day as some teams manage to do it all season. None of the Bruins seemed willing to hit Ecker, who runs like a fullback, while Mike Kennedy, a small, nimble defenseman making his first Harvard start, left the Brown riders tied in knots.
Harvard got its fourth goal of the game, for example, when Kennedy faked a trio of Bruins off their feet and then fed the ball to Martin, who found MacKenzie open on the crease.
Less than three minutes into the second half, Martin dropped the ball off to Predun as the freshman circled around onto the crease. the easy goal left Harvard in complete control, 11-3.
Brown didn't give up without a fight; Carell finished with five tallies and sidekick John Meister matched his point total with two goals and three assists. But the Bruins never got close enough to launch a serious rally, and Harvard cruised to the 18-11 final margin.
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