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The Soccer Notebook

By Jennifer M. Frey

It's six games into the season and the Harvard men's soccer team has managed to score only seven goals--that's half the number the team had at this point last year.

Granted, junior forward Derek Mills, the team's leading scorer in 1986, has been out of the line-up with an injured knee. But juniors Dave Kramer and Paul Baverstock, Harvard's number one and two scorers in 1987, have started every game, as has classmate Nick D'Onofrio (seven goals and one assist for 15 points last year).

"Scoring takes a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work," senior midfielder Ramy Rajballie said. "So far there's probably not quite enough of either."

Harvard (3-2-1) has yet to tally in the first half and has only scored the first goal of the game once this season (in a 1-1 tie at Hartford).

"We wait until we're down a couple of goals, and then we really buckle down," Rajballie said. "We're not quite putting it all together."

Nick Loves the 'Wick: The offense may not have been up to par in Saturday's 3-1 loss to Hartwick in Oneonta, N.Y., but junior forward Nick D'Onofrio kept his scoring streak intact.

In his three seasons at Harvard, D'Onofrio has been the only Crimson player to tally against the Warriors. Last Saturday D'Onofrio knocked in his routine goal with 9:16 remaining in the contest.

Injury Update: Harvard was missing three starters against the 'Wick, as Mills, sophomore sweeper Nick Gates and senior back Gian D'Ornellas all stayed in Cambridge with injury or illness. D'Ornellas and Mills were sitting out for their third straight games--D'Ornellas with a sprained ankle and Mills with an injured knee. Gates was out with illness.

In addition, Captain Robert Bonnie and junior midfielder Paul Baverstock both played the Hartwick game with injuries, Bonnie going the entire 90 minutes.

New Faces in New Places: With all the recent injury and scoring problems, Crimson Coach Mike Getman was forced to make several line-up switches and substitutions Saturday. Senior midfielder F.J. Gould found himself starting at sweeper for the first time since high school, while classmate Louis Lyons took over the left midfield position for the beginning of the contest.

Getman moved John Shue, Jon Ephraim and freshmen Alex Estevez up from the JV squad--and Ephraim and Estevez saw their first varsity action when Getman sat out his starting forwards for 15 minutes of the second half.

"Mike [Getman] was changing things around and trying to come up with something," Hartwick Coach Jim Lennox said. "Some times you've just got to shake things up."

No More Vacations: This week was supposed to be a breather after the Crimson's tough early-season schedule. Boston College, Harvard's opponent on Wednesday, has been traditionally weak and Cornell (Saturday at Ohiri Field) should be the Crimson's easiest Ivy match-up.

But Harvard's recent problems have put the Crimson in a must-with situation if it hopes to receive a repeal NCAA tournament bid.

"If we lose [the B.C. game] we are in deep trouble," Rajballie said.

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