It was like the opening of F-Troop--the clip where the cavalry charges onto the prairie, then beats an equally hasty retreat as the film rewinds.
The Harvard soccer team stormed to a 1-0 second half lead in a supposedly easy season opener at MIT's Steinbrenner Field yesterday, only to leave the field in a stunned daze after the Engineers ambushed them with an incredible three-goal barrage in the closing fifteen minutes.
"The longer the game went, the more confident MIT got," a subdued coach George Ford said after the game. The Crimson controlled the first half--taking a 1-0 lead on Tommy Hsiao's goal--and much of the second, but let the Engineers slip away.
Harvard hammered 26 shots in MIT sophomore netminder Tom Smith's direction but he inspired his mates with some clutch saves and then quashed Crimson hopes with a diving stop of a Girard Hall penalty shot with 1:50 remaining and Harvard trailing 2-1.
MIT's Zanda Ilori opened the blitzkrieg when he headed a Jerry Walsh corner kick into a jungle of legs in front of the Harvard goal and the ball rolled by screened goalie Bill Blood at the 30:27 mark.
Then the film went into rapid reverse as the game entered the realm of the absurd with three-and-a-half minutes remaining.
Blood made a save at the front of the penalty area as John Sanacore and MIT's Walsh tripped over him. In a frenzied instant, the ball rolled loose and Walsh lofted the ball at the empty net. It was MIT 2, Harvard 1.
At 43:10 it seemed that the nightmare was over as superlative Harvard halfback Michael Smith was hacked in the penalty area, and sophomore Hall lined up the subsequent penalty kick. Hall's shot bounded off the hands of the left-diving Smith, and MIT retained the lead.
A minute later, Harvard had a chance with a corner kick, but it was headed away and the Engineers broke up field for one more goal against a thoroughly humiliated Crimson. Adding insult to injury, Michael Raphael popped in the third goal with 7 seconds left in the game.
For Harvard, the game proved disappointing because the booters did not show the consistency and confidence they hoped for. "We had these spells when we did not get enough chasing from the forward players," Ford said. The internal rhythms so important to winning soccer were just too often missing.
In the first half, Harvard showed moments of brilliant play, passing between lines and dominating areas. But those moments only came in spurts.
The only Harvard score came early, at 12:38. Freshman Mauro Keller Sarmiento, who played a strong game along with fellow yardling Peter Sergienko, dropped a cross to his feet, dribbled toward the center and chipped the ball to the far post where senior winger Hsiao headed it home. But that was the day's only Crimson tally.
An elated MIT coach said after the game, "We broke out the record book and the last time we won was 1920." Actually, it was 1962, which I think was before F. Troop was ever on the air. SCORING First Half: Read more in Sports
