Yale Downs Stickmen, 9-5; McCrea Shines in Defeat

Yale's varsity lacrosse team played some of its best lacrosse of the season and Harvard played some of its worst, as the Elis blew the punchless Crimson off the field last Saturday on the way to a 9-5 win.

With the loss, Harvard's hopes for its highest Ivy League finish in four years--second place--quietly faded away.

Psychologically down after easy wins against weaklings Williams and Dartmouth in the last two weeks. Harvard could do little to stop the Blue. Yale, improving tremendously each game, managed to maintain enough of the momentum that inspired them to tie defending Ivy champ Princeton, 8-8, last week, and had no trouble at all with the Crimson.

Harvard Leads at Half

From the opening face-off, when Yale's big Tom Preston out-fought Crimson midfielder Jim Kilkowski for possession, things just spiralled downhill for Harvard. Yale controlled the ball the entire game.

Harvard actually led at the end of the first half, 5-3, but it was only the fantastic net-minding of Ed McCrae which kept the Crimson in the game at all. McCrea could not single-handedly stop the Blue.

McCrea received very little help from the rest of his team. Attackman John Ince, the leading scorer in the league, tallied the first Crimson goal early in the first quarter, but was shut-out for the rest of the game.

No one else had a very hot hand. Attackman Jim Anderson and midfielder Marty Cain tied for game-high honors with a lone goal and assist apiece.

The defense did little better. Yale shifted its strategy for the game, allowing its attackers to come out in front of the crease and leaving its midfielders back, and the Crimson just couldn't adjust.

Building their offense around individual dodges and accurate passing whenever the Harvard defense managed to momen- tarily stop their drives, the Yalies bombarded goalie McCrea from all angles.

The turning point in the game came with only 16 seconds left in the second quarter. With Harvard ahead, 5-2, mid-fielder Bruce Regan grabbed a loose ball in front of the Crimson net. But before he could make his move, a Yale player hit his stick, knocking the ball past McCrae for the score.

In the second half, Harvard failed to score. Yale retained the push from their fluke goal and ran the score to 9-5, before it mercifully decided to freeze the ball for the remaining minutes