WALTHAM, Mass. -- The kick-and-run game is not the prettiest way to play soccer. Balls and bodies fly everywhere. But it can be successful, as the Harvard's men soccer team learned yesterday, dropping a 3-0 decision to Brandeis on rain-soaked Gordon Field.

Obviously very inspired by a 5-2 drubbing at the feet of the Crimson last season, the Judges threw everything and everybody they had at the booters in a style of play more familiar to eight-year-olds on the Cambridge Common. The unexpected result was a shutout, the first against Harvard this season, and goal production that almost doubled the Crimson's goals-against average for the season.

Sweeper Frank Ricaptio described the Judges play as "ultra-aggressive." But it was more than aggression. The Judges scurried around the field in no apparent pattern, frequently leaving their man-to-man defense to converge on whichever Harvard player had the ball.

To their credit, Brandeis never let the booters slide into the controlled style they had demonstrated in their other games. Cramped by the narrow dimensions of the Judges' pitch, the Crimson could not find free space in Brandeis' half of the field.

"We didn't really open up the game," explained halfback Mike Mogollon, adding that the Judges were "really quick to challenge the ball."

Rats!

Harvard's biggest mistake of the match came easily. Some offensive scrambling gave Branders forward Glenn Conlan the ball on the right wing, and after dribbling toward the endline, he launched a low cross toward the Crimson net that skimmed off goalkeeper Phil Coogan's hands. The rebound landed near Judge halfback Jim McCully, who hit a flouter that landed squarely in the upper right of the goal.

The early goal boasted Brandeis's confidence and put pressure on the booters to build an attack against a frustratingly unpredictable defense.

"We lost it in the first half," said midfielder Leighton Welsh.

Bad luck had something to do with the second Brandeis tally. McCully had the good fortune to have a Crimson defensive clearance bounce off the back of his head, with the ricochet landing at the feet of Judge winger Chris Ellsasses. Ellsasses hit a low right-footer past charging freshman Matt Ginzberg, who replaced Coogan at the half. The junior starter suffered a broken nose against Columbia and he complained the padding he wore obstructed his vision.

As the drizzle thickened, the booters collected more and more chances, but could land nothing in the Brandeis twines, and with 11:46 left, Harvard got caught with most of the team in the Brandeis half of the field. Frontrunner Conlan received a long ball from the Judge defense, and snuck a cross past Ricaptio into the center of the penalty box. Running unmarked, forward Joe Hayes hit a right-footed volley for the game's final tally.

Harvard's next match is a home stand against the University of Connecticut, reigning national collegiate champions, on Wednesday.