Crimson Booters Play to 0-0 Tie In Overtime With Columbia Squad

Columbia's soccer team surprised Harvard's booters on Saturday by outplaying the favored Crimson and gaining a scoreless tie in double overtime.

The Lions came into Saturday's game having lost their Ivy League opener to Princeton the week before. Although always a troublesome squad, Columbia was not expected to be too tough a challenge to Harvard's explosive team. In its last game, the Crimson convincingly defeated a Wesleyan team that had tied powerful Yale earlier in the season.

Roaring Lions

Injuries to several key performers plagued the Harvard team, but it was not injuries that denied them victory. A fired-up, hungry Lion squad out-hustled, out-ran, and out-passed the Crimson. Statistics tell some of the story, as Columbia outshot Harvard 31-21.

These numbers cut both ways. Harvard's offense lapsed into sloppy, uncoordinated passing for most of the exhausting 98 minutes of play. The Lions' defense contained an offense that had scored 26 goals in its first five games.

On the other hand, Columbia's 31 shots represented the most taken against Harvard since last year's loss to Ivy League champs Brown. Very often the Lions penetrated Harvard's defense, only to be thwarted by the sparkling play of goalie Rich Locksley, who turned in his first shutout of the season.

Harvard had many scoring opportunities. The closest chances came in the second quarter, when outside right Ahmed Yehia's shot was barely deflected at the right corner of the net by the Lions' goalie, and in the fourth quarter, when center forward Peter Bogovich's booming kick missed the upper left corner of the goal.