"It was there for the taking, and we just didn't take it," said wrestling Coach John Lee on Friday after Harvard lost a hard-fought match to Princeton at the IAB.

The match all but eliminated the Crimson from a chance to claim the Ivy League title.

The loss also put a damper on the otherwise strong weekend showing for the grapplers, who swept five of their six meets, including a decisive victory over Penn on Saturday.

The crucial 25-13 loss to the Tigers came early Friday afternoon, in the first of the six weekend meets, when Harvard had numerous opportunities, but was unable to put Princeton away.

The Crimson, now 1-2 in the Ivy League and 9-6 overall, must count on help from Yale, Brown, and Columbia for an unlikely combination of wins and losses if it to take its first-ever League title.

Much like last week's loss to Cornell, each of the bouts against Princeton was hard-fought. The key, however, was a series of three consecutive ties in the middle-weight classes. Harvard was down 16-3 with five matches remaining when 158 lb. Pete Holmes, 167 lb. Steve Farrell, and 177 lb. Kevin McGinty all posted ties. Both Farrell and McGinty were ahead in the third period, but neither was able to hold on for the win.

The match started off poorly for Harvard with the Crimson losing four of the first five bouts. But Scott Beck, at 126 lbs., kept Harvard in the meet with a 9-2 win.

The three ties in the middle-weight classes which followed put Harvard behind by the score of 22-9. The Crimson's hopes for a miracle finish were dashed when an ailing 190 lb. Dave Bunning failed to pull off a victory, losing 6-1.

Heavyweight Kevin Wattles recorded a 13-3 win, but it was too late, as the Crimson lost 25-13.

After the loss the grapplers took the day's other two matches, defeating Lowell 36-12 and Boston University 24-8.

The Crimson kept the streak rolling on Saturday and demolished Penn in the opener 33-6. Steve Fabry recorded his fourth victory of the season in the 118 lb. class, and Beck, who won just five matches all last year, gained his 11th win of the season by easily handling his opponent. Jeff Clark, at 134 lbs., raised his record to 12-4 with an easy 15-0 victory.

Mike Hanrahan, at 142 lbs., was tied with his opponent 2-2 at the end of the first period, and the two remained stalemated throughout the third and final period. But at the buzzer Hanrahan was tagged with a disputed stalling call, giving Penn a one-point decision.

Both Jerry Greenberg, at 150 lbs., and Holmes recorded their sixth victories of the season, and Farrell raised his record to 13-4 with a 10-8 win.

After a loss by McGinty, Bunning and Wattles iced the match with a pair of victories.

In other action on Saturday, the Crimson swept Central Connecticut State 27-11 and Boston College 38-10.