Widmer Sparks Booters To Comeback Win, 5-4

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--On the strength of overtime goals by Ramy Rajballie and Nikhil Singh, the Harvard men's soccer team defeated Brown in overtime, 5-4, in front of 300 fans here at Stevenson Field.

But the overtime victory--the first of the year for the Crimson and the fourth straight victory overall for the team which opened its season 1-5-1--was keyed by Providence native Matt Widmer.

Playing in front of his hometown fans and his father, the dean of student life at Brown, Widmer came off the bench to tally the game-tying goal at 76:39.

The see-saw battle, which twice saw Harvard come back from one-goal deficits, raised the Crimson to the .500 level (5-5-1, 3-2 Ivy) for the first time since the second game of the season.

The victory also kept alive Harvard's mathematical hopes of a share of the Ivy title. The booters must win their final two games and Cornell must lose its last two to create a tie.

After nine uneventful minutes of overtime, Rajballie took a perfect cross from Crimson midfielder Nick Hotchkin and headed the ball past Brown goalie Terry Stanoch.

Sixty-one seconds later, Paul Nicholas picked up his second assist of the night when he fed Frank Gifalco with a great lead pass which Singh slammed by Stanoch into the far corner of the goal.

Singh's goal, his third of the year, became important when Bruin back Chris Ingerslev--who doubles as Brown's football placekicker--snuck the ball by Crimson netminder Matt Ginsburg with five minutes left in overtime.

Hotchkin had two first-half scores, marking the third straight game with a multiple-goal performance by a Cantab.