"This team had a lot to prove today,' Coach Doug Tashian said yesterday after his freshman soccer team used a new field alignment and a hat trick by Morgan Belford to trounce the Naval Prep Rams of Newport, R.I., 5-0.

Adding an extra midfielder, Harvard controlled the pace of the game, played on a cold, windy afternoon at the Business School during the final minutes. The 3-2-2-3 formation "creates more scoring chances than the 4-3-3, as seen in the five goals," Tashian said, and the team will continue with the new alignment.

Breaking Away

With Harvard ahead 2-0, Belford broke the contest open with goals at 47:32 and 60:50. Both goals--assisted by Chris Harvey and Jay Hooper, respectively--came on conversions of loose balls around the Ram net.

The Crimson had opened the scoring at 6:27 when left wing John Bailyn capitalized on an error by Ram Goalie Mike Christman on a Ted Widmer cross. Widmer, then a right wing, tallied unassisted at 15:16 for the only other goal in the opening 45 minutes.

Led by goalkeeper Phil Coogan and center fullback Bob Kloepper, the Harvard defense posed their second shutout of the season. Coogan had an excellent game, making several point-blank saves on Prep breakaways.

The Rams' best scoring opportunity was a second-half penalty kick. Center forward Bill Fitzgerald shanked the kick wide right.

The booters, who will face Dartmouth in Hanover this Friday, now stand at 2-1. "It was a good showing, a good team effort," Tashian said.