Stickmen Dump Powerful Tigers, 13-12, With Three Tallies in Closing Moments

NEW YORK, May 3--Captain Tom Nicosia's goal with 1:40 remaining in the game capped a thrilling Harvard comeback and gave the Crimson a 13-12 upset of league-leading Princeton today before 1000 disappointed spectators.

The Crimson took an early lead on an unassisted goal by John Ince and continued to dominate the first period, earning a 3-2 advantage. Princeton put more pressure on the Harvard defense in the second quarter, but the Crimson was equal to the task as it allowed only one Tiger shot to get into the net. Meanwhile, Phil Zuckerman, Cle Landolt, and Ince collected goals for Harvard.

Trailing 6-3 after the first half, Princeton played continually better, and it looked as if the Crimson might collapse as it has in several previous games. But each time the Tigers narrowed the lead Harvard capitalized on scoring opportunities to stay ahead.

Kirk Unruh and John Taylor put in two scores for Princeton, but beautiful passes from Ince to Bruce Regan to Zuckerman accounted for another Crimson tally. Zuckerman put in a high shot from two yards out. A second dazzling piece of passing netted the eighth goal for Harvard when Landolt scored easily from right in front.

Three-Goal Edge

Landolt again tallied on a pass from Jim Kilkowski to up the lead to 9-6. After a goal by Princeton's Pete Johnson, Ince chalked up his third score to maintain the three-goal edge.

Princeton began to take charge as the third quarter neared an end. The Crimson just missed on several shots, but the Tigers were controlling play and beginning to score. With six minutes gone in the last period. Peter Lips dodged Harvard's Bobby Johnson and fired in the equalizer to make it 10-10.

Johnson and Jim Karanik fired in two more goals to seemingly end Crimson hopes with only five minutes left.

Then Harvard started to revive. A handful of shots hit pipes or were just wide until Rick Frisbee put in a 12-yard shot again and the ball bounced 20 feet into the air. A cluster of players went high in the air in front of the net to fight for possession, but Zuckerman went highest and quick-sticked the ball into the net to the game.

Shortly afterward, Ince lost the ball to Keith Mauney behind the Princeton net, but Mauney passed right to Zuckerman who fed the charging Nicosia. The Crimson captain's shot bounced off two pipes, hit the goalie, and rolled in. "They count any told way," Nicosia later said.

Much of the credit for the upset belongs to coach Bruce Munro, who notched his 150th victory, Munro made extensive use of his third midfield to rest the other two lines, and it worked well as the midfielders did not tire late in the game as they usually do. "The coach really played his cards right," Regan said.