Failure to finish. Three key words in the vocabulary of the Harvard men's soccer team. Missed chances. There're a couple more. The meaning of those two phrases obscured an otherwise impressive effort by the men's soccer team last night at Princeton--on today's bus ride home, the booters will sing the blues of a 2-0 defeat.

The drubbing at the hands of the Tighers makes the Crimson the humble owners of a 1-3 Ivy record, although overall the squad sports a more acceptable 7-4 mark.

But their Ivy League showing dooms the Crimson to no more than a spoiler role in the conference race. That chance will come in two weeks, when the booters meet still undefeated Upenn in Philadelphia. The Quakers are the surprise of this year's Ivy slate; they defeated pre-season favorite and nationally ranked Columbia earlier this month.

The squad took the field in the first half sluggishly, and the Tighers' maddening ball control offense soon took advantage of a Crimson defensive lapse.

Princeton captain Charlie Stillitano dribbled down the left side, evading a number of would-be Crimson tacklers, and then shot a short pass over to teammate Rich Alito. Alito slipped the ball over to Jim Bowen, who knocked the ball into the net by the near post, past Crimson goalie Ben Erulcar.

Erulcar has been filling in for Peter Walsh, who reinjured his shoulder during practice early last week.

The Tighers' man-to-man marking defense shut down the Crimson attack for most of the first half, although strikers Mauro Keller-Sarmiento and Lance Ayrault did manage to penetrate the Princeton back line on occasion

In the second half, a rejuvenated Harvard eleven came out eager to prove that they can indeed handle Ivy competition,although their record seems to indicate the opposite.

Although the Harvard midfield continued to play too far up in the forward zone, at times preventing a proper offensive set-up, it had several chances.

With Princeton still leading 1-0, Michael Smith took advantage of a Tiger defensive miscue to intercept the ball about 12 yards outside the net. Only a stellar save by an out-or-position Princetion goalie Kept Smith from knotting the score.

After Princeton had gone ahead 2-0 with about 15 minutes left in the game, a missed John Duggan penalty shot broke the back of the Crimson. With 12 minutes to go Duggan put the Crimson's second penalty kick of the year over the net.

The miss meant that Harvard had to step up the tempo, while Princeton could afford to lay back and play a composed game. Crimson midfielder Leon Lanzillo explained: "If we had hit the penalty shot, they couldn't have continued to play with the poise they did, and we could have gone after them."