It wasn't exactly what they had hoped for. Then again anything short of a second Ivy League win would not have sufficed for the defending champions.

After a hard-fought double overtime contest, the Harvard men's soccer team (2-1-2, 1-1-1 Ivy) drove home from New Haven on Friday with only a 2-2 tie to show for its efforts.

"It was disappointing in the sense that we didn't hold on to the win," said junior back Lee Williams. "But to be honest a tie was a fair result."

With a two-game winning streak on the line, Harvard was coming off a solid 3-2 victory over Providence. More importantly, the Crimson offense had undergone a maturation of sorts against the Friars. Not only did the young midfield dominate play down the middle, but captain Tom McLaughlin-last year's top Ivy League point-getter-exploded for his first two goals of the season.

Right from the start McLaughlin picked up where he had left off against Providence. After only a minute of play and without Yale (3-1-1, 0-0-1) even touching the ball, McLaughlin deposited a direct kick from 20-yards out into the back of the net.

The Crimson onslaught continued 12 minutes later when senior Ricky Le halfvolleyed a bullet into the right corner of the net off a deflected cross from sophomore Ryan Keeton.

"In the first 20 minutes we completely dominated the game," Le said. "We came out on fire and we thought that we could continue that way throughout the entire game."

Unbeknownst to the Crimson players, that would be the only goal celebration they would be able to enjoy, for the Elis resurged and rallied for two unanswered goals.

The first came just seven minutes after the Le tally, but it was the second score by Jac Gould in the 79th minute that did the most damage.

Not only did Gould's blast knot things up at two goals apiece and force the game into overtime, but it also signified a change of momentum.

"We were really kind of lucky because they had so many opportunities to score in the second half," Le said. "Our defense broke down in the second half of the game. We were lucky that we tied."

From that moment on, and throughout the two 15-minute overtime halves, the Elis took control of play, outshooting Harvard 7-2.

Harvard junior goaltender Jordan Dupuis, who finished with 10 saves, was the Crimson's savior, robbing Gould on two quality scoring chances during that spell.

"The style of play changed and we were knocking the ball out and didn't play with much possession," Williams said. "That sort of play drained us so by the end we were just tired."

The Ivy contests-although few and far between on the overall schedule-are pivotal because a league title represents an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. With an earlier loss to Pennsylvania and a 1-1 tie with Boston College, the Ivy automatic may now be Harvard's only ticket into the Big Dance.