"But I worked pretty hard that summer, and George (coach Ford) moved me back to a back position at training camp, and after a position switch with John Sanacore, I've been at sweeper since."

Strong Suit

The position of college sweeperback is one well-suited to Langton's talent. The role is not unlike that of a football free safety, except that soccer involves a continuous flow, while football action comes in spurts.

Sweeperback demands such qualities as cool-headedness, the ability to read the ebbs and flows of a game and direct the rest of the team accordingly, and agressive defensive play.

Langton has the requisite talent--he heads well, has a deceptively accurate flick volley, tackles well, and feeds the ball upfield coolly.

Last year, the defensive machinery worked well as Langton teamed-up with the likes of Smith and wing fullback Sanacore. A 0-0 shutout at Cornell proved that the inexperienced fullback line had gotten its act together, and the Crimson went on to finish .500 for the year.

"That was just a tremendous year," Langton said, smiling widely. "We weren't really losing anybody, so even when we lost we'd say, wait 'til next year."

The smile faded at that point: "That's why this year is so anticlimactic, well, not really anticlimactic, but frustrating. Really frustrating."

Picking up his lunch tray, Langton turned to talking about himself. "I've never thought I'm one of the best skilled guys on the team," he said. "But back there's not my place to be big on skills--what I have to do is just play the sure pass, not try to be too fancy."

I felt sorry for Jim Langton as he walked out of the cafeteria and headed down toward the B-School field for the game with Tufts. It seemed sad, really, that such a nice guy (excuse the corniness) was having such a difficult time as Harvard's soccer captain, in a moment that should be his finest hour.

No Tears

But watching him direct the flow out there later in the afternoon--watching at Harvard won only its third game of the year--I no longer felt sorry. You couldn't feel sorry, because win or lose, he was doing his job the way he was supposed to do it--making the sure pass, not trying to be too fancy. He was right at home.