Aced
May 10, 1979--Navy torpedoes the Harvard men's tennis team, 5-4, all but shattering the Crimson's shot at the Eastern League title.
The final blow, however, came when Jay Lapidus and his pack of Princeton Tigers destroyed the Crimson, 8-1, capturing the first undisputed league title since 1966.
One bright point of the season arrived when Harvard trounced Yale, 8-1; but the Elis avenged the loss the following week at the New Englands by topping Harvard by one, lonely point.
Number one man Don Pompan, who lost only one match in League play, will return next year. But for captain Kevin Shaw, Scott Walker, Dick Arnos and Andy Chaikovsky--who played brilliantly this year despite a shoulder injury--four years of Harvard tennis came to a disappointing end.
Roughed up along the boards
Jan. 31, 1979--Late in the third period the score is even, 3-3, and the Harvard hockey team has a chance to stay, barely, in the race for an ECAC Division One playoff berth. Then the Providence College Friars fire in two goals in the last four minutes for a 5-3 win.
Nobody is surprised. For two years, the Crimson icemen had raised high hopes with impressive early showings, then blown a shot at post-season competition with unexpected collapses. But in 1978-79, Bill Cleary's squad didn't bother to heighten the suspense: from their 7-2 drubbing at the hands of Dartmouth in the opener to the long-awaited finale (Yale's ultra-frustration job at the New Haven Colliseum), the skaters inspired no delusions of grandeur, only apathy and pathos.
But for a few semi-bright spots--the fine play of rookie Dave Burke, George Hughes' four-goal bonanza against UNH in December, Mike Watson's OT tally to dump B.C., the well-played Beanpot loss to B.U. and the welcomed 10-2 blowout of Colgate--this year's version of Harvard hockey could be written off as just about a total loss.
Playing their home schedule at B.U.'s vacuum-packed Walter Brown Arena, the Crimson finished 7-18-1 overall and 1-8-1 in the Ivies, both Harvard records for ineptitude. Bad play was spread evenly among an offense that couldn't produce (especially on the power play), a defense that kept the puck in its own zone, and inconsistent goaltending.
Wait 'til next year--with Watson Rink renovated at least we'll get home faster after the losses.
Historic win
Oct. 28, 1979--The Crimson field hockey team upends Princeton for the first time ever, as Sarah Mleczko tallies the game's only score in a memorable 1-0 win.
Co-captains Ellen Seidler and Mary Howard led the stickwomen, who fell to Cornell, 2-1, in the regional playoffs. Seidler's steady netminding and the offensive spark of Mleczko and Howard gave the Crimson the nucleus of a team which had the potential to knock off anyone in the East.
When it didn't, the players and coach Debi Field said it was "depressing." But this was one Harvard team that made history.
Quicksticked
April 28, 1979--The Princeton Tigers edge the Crimson laxmen, 11-9, destroying Harvard's hopes for an NCAA playoff berth.
The laxmen went on to lose to UMass, spoiling their bid for the New England Championship. A tough pair of early season losses to Eastern lacrosse powers Cornell and Johns Hopkins dampened the Crimson's NCAA aspirations before Harvard ever really got rolling.
Laboring without stellar midfielder Peter Predun after he broke his right thumb early in the schedule, the laxmen amassed a 10-4 record. Goalie Kenny First played superbly, forward Mike Faught battled valliantly and freshman Norm Forbush exhibited style--but the NCAAs were still a step away.