Soccer, at the most neophyte spectator will tell you, is a game played in two halves. The Harvard men's soccer team won a victory of sorts in Providence yesterday by holding Brown to a scoreless tie through 45 minutes.

But the Bruins, ranked first in New England and 12th in the nation, won a victory on the scoreboard in the closing half, downing the booters, 2-0.

It was a game Harvard could have won. In the half that it could call its own, the Crimson strung together long series of passes, frequently challenging the Bruin goalmouth.

"We played well enough to win," said Coach Jape Shattuck "we thought the first half was ours."

Ten minutes into the opening period, sophomore John Catliff the Crimson's leading scorer (seven goals, two assists), demonstrated that the booters could get through the tough Brown defense, sending a header just over the crossbar.

Catliff got other chances, including a hard left-footer that forced Bruin goalkeeper Hunter Stem to make a leaping save to his left, but no goals.

That's become a disturbing tendency of Harvard recently. In their last three matches, the boosters have mustered only three scores, well below the 2.14 goals per-game average they established in their first seven outings.

The result has been too plain three games without a win (they tied Boston University 2-2 at home two weeks ago).

The visitors actually outshot Brown, 14-12 but Brown took better advantage of its chances.

Taking advantage on offense for the Bruins meant getting the ball to junior forward Sev Palydowycz in the second stanza. The Bruin notched both goals with less than 25 minutes left in the match.

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His first was unassisted, a streaking drive from 35 yeards at 69:37. The second came when Bruin freshman halfback Alex Guira found Palydowycz with a long through pass from midfield. The Bruin striker beat goalie Phil Coogan in a foot race to the ball, sliding it into the Crimson net at 80:59.

Harvard earlier had a chance to get a decisive tally with 27:59 left, when Catliff hit an eight-footer towards an open net. Brown fullback John Schmidt slid into the net to save the goal that could have dropped the Bruins from a dead heat with Columbia for the Ivy League crown.