MIDDLEBURY, Conn.--"Goodnight Harvard, Goodnight Harvard," sang the partisan home crowd here yesterday as overtime drew to an agonizing close for a Crimson eleven which had outplayed Wesleyan only to lose their third straight game of the young season, 1-0.
One-hundred and four minutes and 48 seconds of scoreless soccer ended halfway through the second 10-minute overtime period when Wesleyan's Paul Roland emerged from a scramble for the ball at the 18-yd. line, then laid a beautiful pass at the feet of Stan Hamilton. Hamilton had the simple task of shooting across the goalmouth past a helpless Harvard goalie Billy Blood for the game winner.
Harvard had dominated most of the play on Wesleyan's short field; it had controlled midfield for much of the game as Michael Smith, among others, played especially well; it had only one major defensive breakdown before the final score and Billy Blood had stalled that first-half Wesleyan thrust with a superlative diving save to his right; and it had slowly begun to open holes in the Wesleyan defense with long passes from John Sanacore and Smith. But the Crimson had not scored.
The Crimson played the entire game like a cobra poised to strike; always poised, never striking. Last year's leading scorers, Walter Diaz and Lee Nelson (who was admittedly marked closely all day) could not seem to find their touch.
In the first half, Nelson dribbled free of the Wesleyan defense five yards outside the penalty area but then took one step too many and had his shot blocked by a defender as coach George Ford muttered "Why wait?" on the sideline.
In the second half, Diaz let a ball roll past him in front of the goal. Later, he corralled a precise through-pass from Mike Smith at the edge of the area but shot well over the bar before collapsing, head in hands onto the ground in frustration. And in overtime Nelson missed with an off-balance swipe at the ball as it rolled into the penalty area off the foot of freshman halfback Robert Fritz.
The Harvard backs, on the other hand, played by far their best game of the season. Sanacore and sweeper back captain Jim Langton closed off the Wesleyan forwards most of the day and added spice to the offense when it lagged, with long runs upfield.
The halfbacks--with newcomer freshman Robert Fritz a pleasant surprise--controlled midfield with intelligent short passing amongst themselves or longer passes to the wings. Freshman wing Mauro Keller Sarmiento played superbly when not dribbling too much, as Ford exhorted him to "turn 'em inside out" from the sideline. Goalie Billy Blood had his finest game of the season, looking comfortable in his role as Fred Herold's replacement.
Unfortunately, the fine play went for naught as the Cardinals committed what assistant coach Kevin Welsh called a "highway robbery" in stealing the game. To prevent future theft, the Crimson must simply begin to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
If it does on Saturday, Harvard may manage to do some singing of its own in giving UConn a rude awakening. "Good morning, UConn?" Overtime: Wesleyan 1, Harvard 0. Hamilton from Roland 14:48 SHOTS Harvard 25. Wesleyan 25 SAVES Blood, Harvard--11 Coombs, Wesleyan--15
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