Booters Seek Eighth Win Against Princeton Today

Harvard's varsity soccer team is seeking its fifth consecutive Ivy victory and its eighth win of the season this morning at 10:30 a.m. against Princeton on the Tiger's Poe Field.

Princeton has lost to Columbia, Penn, and Brown already this fall and the Tigers' lone Ivy victory came against Dartmouth, 2-1. In that game, Dartmouth outshot Princeton, 23-8, and had three drives bounce off the post.

Although the Tigers should not challenge the Crimson's undefeated record, a Princeton upset today would be especially costly to Harvard. The NCAA District 1 selection committee is meeting Saturday after the soccer games to select four teams for the New England playoffs.

Home Advantage

Harvard and Brown are almost assured of spots in the tournament, and at the moment the Crimson is ranked number one ahead of Brown. But home advantage has always been a very important factor in the traditionally rugged Harvard-Brown game. Last year the Crimson barely beat Brown, 2-1, at Providence during the regular season, but Harvard rolled to an easy 4-0 win over the Bruins two weeks later in the NCAA match in Cambridge.

A Crimson victory today, therefore, would give Harvard that significant home field advantage again.

Several Crimson players have recovered from injuries suffered against Penn. Phil Axten, Chris Wilmot, and Phil Kydes are all once again playing at full speed.

Halfbacks

But halfback Norrie Harrower came up with a severe charlie horse last Saturday and he has not practiced with the team this week. Harrower's injury is particularly significant because halfback Chris Ferner will be starting on the fullback line. Outside right Bill Brock did not make the trip to Princeton because of entrance exams.

Without Ferner and Harrower, coach Bruce Munro will rely on sophomore Emmanuel Ekama, who has recovered from a sore foot, and reserve Bezo Cutler.

Shep Messing and Bill Meyers will alternate once again in the goal. Rather than pick a starting goalie, Munro asked Meyers and Messing two weeks ago to alternate in goal for three games and then reevaluate the policy.

Today's game is the third match in the experiment. In the first two games the opposition has scored only one fluke goal.

Tiger Line-up

Princeton's starting line-up may be altered today because of illness. Captain Marshall Rose, the Tigers' top scorer at outside right, has been in the infirmary this week with a throat infection. Rose was released from the university infirmary on Thursday, and coach Jack Volz is hopeful that he can start today.

Volz is more worried about his first reserve fullback Nick Potter, who is sidelined with a sprained ankle. "We'll really miss him out there," Volz said.

The Tigers' strength is on defense with veterans Bob Boyd, Tjarda Clagget and Ron Smith returning from last year's fullback line. On offense, however, Princeton has yet to find a replacement for All-American Steve Davidson and Bona Mibica.