Freshmen Booters Open Against Tufts; Balance and Depth Are Key to Season

Freshman soccer coach Dana Getchen is keeping the cat in the bag on his starting line-up for tomorrow afternoon's season opener against Tufts on the Jumbos' home field.

And he just might have something to hide. Although the Yardlings perennially field a top ranked club, this year "Getch" is working with an overflowing stock of players to choose from.

There is no Bogovich or Gomez around to dazzle the coaches with his preseason talents, but there might be one soon. Right now he is camouflaged in a squad with enough depth and balance to obscure any potential stars.

"I've got 11 strong positions," Getch said after a scrimmage last Tuesday. "If I had to, I could put two good teams on the field and probably have a darn good scrimmage."

Strength Is Deep

But Getch still hasn't decided who will play where. "If I name one man for a starting spot I would have to name three. That's how deep our strength is," he added.

Normally there is a 20 per cent turnover in the starting line-ups during the first three games. In the Tufts opener, you can expect to see at least two different strings playing in several different combinations.

The one sure starter in the Tufts game is George Gibson at goalie; and even that is definite for only the first game.

The defensive five is still in a formative period. Chris Wilmot of England and Chris Fermer of Norway ought to be working somewhere in the backfield. At fullback, Getch is already working around one injury to Phil Axten; and will be playing several men in there to find a good duo.

The offense, however, bubbles with strong shooters and quick wings. Charlie Thomas, a center forward from Gambia who scored 27 goals in prep school last year and logged 20 assists, will lead the Crimson attack. At inside he can expect more than adequate support in Phil Kydes, Chris Alexoupolis, Skip Marotta, or maybe Bill Bennett.

While on the outside, the Yardlings boast four or five strong wings that give Harvard a wide open scoring game. Russ Bell on the right is the most exciting to watch. A sleeper in the offense, he has lively finesse bringing the ball down the field and enough speed to slip behind the fullbacks for the quick score. He will be complemented on the left by either Eric Pope, Doug Watt, or Jimmy Carrow.