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'Second Season' Tips Off Amid Gloom
THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW: Boston's been free of snow this winter, but the heart of the Crimson sports teams would probably feel better if the first part of their seasons had been buried under about 50 inches of blizzard.
With hockey on the verge of ECAC extinction, basketball in pursuit of a record 13-game losing streak and women's swimming wondering where all the swimmers have gone, first semester results brought tears to the eyes of players and nausea to the stomachs of fans.
From frustrated Frank McLaughlin to reticent Bill Cleary, coaches have balked at the progression of events; but the eternal optimists hope rest, recuperation and the end of exam pressures will bring much needed relief to the athletic heartburn plaguing some of the Crimson teams.
Three cheers for Rolaids.
Men's Hockey
Somewhere around Boston, at Walter Brown Arena or in the ruins of Harvard's Watson Rink, coach Billy Cleary must be praying. Maybe he's asking for a miracle, maybe for a divine inspiration; but in any case, Billy Cleary is hoping something comes along to turn around the forces of his nomadic Crimson charges.
You can't really explain a team that posts a 5-10 record, 3-8 in the ECAC and 0-3 in the Ivies, while beating number four Notre Dame and narrowly losing to top-ranked University of Minnesota.
But you can't justify the play of a team that loses embarrassingly to Brown twice and Dartmouth in the season opener. Fleeting glimpses of brilliance have been obscured by serious lapses in coherence.
But the second season begins tonight against Providence in Rhode Island, and senior winger Gene Purdy will be back in action after sitting out 11 games.
Purdy will join senior superskater George Hughes (the team's leading scorer) and the amazing freshman duo of Dave Burke and Mike Watson in an attempt to right the Crimson offense in time for the 27th annual Beanpot, next Monday night.
But before that game, there's Princeton, this weekend; and the ultimate humiliation for this season of frustration would be a loss to the Tigers. As the prospects for a playoff berth and a salvaged season appear dim, a Beanpot win and a respectable record would make things brighter along the blue line.
Men's Hoop
In search of the unlucky number 13--that's the situation for the hapless Harvard hoopsters as they carry a 12-game losing streak over from the pre-exam disaster slide.
The team is recovering from a Western trip that provided lots of unsatisfying almosts and a Cambridge return that sparked some of the season's most inconsistent basketball.
At 3-14 overall, 1-2 in the Ivies, the team McLaughlin defended in January as "tired from the exhausting road trip" has had time to rest and recuperate. But the question remains, can Harvard put together 40 minutes of top flight basketball? So far this season, the team has been unable to do that.
Even the ever-optimistic McLaughlin has expressed doubt about how well Harvard can do without a dominant big man. Dave Coatsworth has done an admirable job in the middle, but he's a freshman and not a very tall one at that. He can't control the tempo.
Control is precisely the element Harvard has missed all season. The team can't play a zone defense, and they've accepted the role as a perimeter offensive team. But their shooters haven't done the job from outside, and miserable freethrow shooting has proved costly.
Rhodes Scholar co-captain Glenn Fine can quarterback the team; co-captain Bob Hooft has done well up front, though his shooting has fallen into inconsistency lately. With a Cornell-Columbia double bill this weekend, the Crimson guns will have to come out screaming if Harvard is to avoid falling into oblivion.
Women's Swim
You have to feel sorry for Crimson coach Stephanie Walsh and what remains of her dejected women's swimming team. Their season to date has been a tortuous experiencing of unattainable goals.
When the season began, the Harvard team looked stronger than ever. Newcomer Pam Stone was a sure bet to fill the longtime diving void. Maura Costin was healthy, Jane Fayer was psyched. Freshman Adele Joel provided the much-needed breaststroke strength. But glory was just a dream.
Fayer separated a shoulder and now sits idly awaiting an operation. Versatile Laurie Downey gave up swimming for a thesis, and freestylers Sherri Lubbers and Liz Kelly also elected not to swim. So the aquawomen faced a tough schedule with only a shadow of the team they had expected to carry.
As coach Walsh said, "With what we've got we're doing well." But what's she's got is young, undeveloped talent lacking the backbone of veteran skill. Joel, Stone and Costin have been strong; but at 1-6, this season looks grim.
As Walsh says, "At least recruiting is going very well."
Wrestling
The grapplers ended the January stretch with a fine performance in a quadrangular meet, beating Lowell and MIT while narrowly losing to a powerful Coast Guard squad.
With a respectable 3-4 record coming into the second half of the winter schedule, the Crimson matmen have reason for optimism, especially after the early-season heroics of freshman sensation Paul Wiederman.
The rookie from Long Island has posted a perfect 7-0 mark this year in the 118-pound class. Sophomore Rick Kief also started on a winning streak grabbing three wins in the quadrangular marathon.
Undefeated Bill Mulvihill (4-0 at 134 pounds), and heavyweight Craig Beling, 5-2 in his division, anchor the veteran end of the Harvard squad which faces a difficult start this weekend with a double against Penn and Princeton.
Women's Track
On the strength of some fine distance performances, the women's track team finished with a bang before exams, destroying Bates 73-27 to even the team's record at 1-1.
Taking first in all but three events, the women showed some strength after a miserable 70-35 loss to New Hampshire in December. With the Greater Boston Championships coming to the ITT this weekend, Pappy Hunt's runners will return to the track against some of the toughest competition of the season.
Junior Kat Taylor in the two-mile and captain Sarah Linsley in the 880 join miler Karla Amble and hurdler Sue Harper at the heart of the running strength.
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