Laxmen to Face Big Red in Ivy Opener

Like the mythical playground hoopster in the Reebok commercial, Steve Meyer is accustomed to shouts of "layup" when he shoots from 15 feet out.

After all, the high-scoring senior has hit paydirt with 86 percent of his early-season shots.

What makes Meyer's efficiency so unusual is the sport he plays. Lacrosse. Meyer shoots his shortrange "layups" amidst a bevy of large men swinging long sticks with malicious intent.

"We play very unselfishly--we'd rather shoot layups than the outside shot," Meyer said. "I've just been in the right place at the right time."

In the Big Red's first two games, he's been in the right place 12 times.

If the Harvard men's lacrosse team (1-0) hopes to knock off Cornell (2-0), last year's NCAA runner-up, in the Ivy League season opener tomorrow at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y., the Crimson will have to find a way to do what Corltand State and Army could not--stop Meyer.

"Meyer's a great one-on-one dodger with excellent stick protection. He's the best finisher they've got," Harvard Coach Scott Anderson said. "But he doesn't have great vision, he's not real fast, and he's not an outside shooter."

Anderson has assigned the job of shadowing Meyer to 6-ft., 4-in., 240-lb. junior defenseman Mike Murphy.

Murphy said he relishes the challenge of keeping Meyer away from the Crimson cage. Asked what he had to do to stop the prolific attackman, Murphy did not hesitate.

"Beat him up physically. Push him around. He's really tall, but he's really skinny. If you come up and check him hard, he'll back off," Murphy said.

But Crimson attackman Mickey Cavuoti--who played with Meyer during the summer--expressed caution, saying that Meyer was a "deceptively strong player" with a "misleading physique."

"[Meyer] smokes a lot of overaggressive defensemen. They think they can rip him apart with the big check, and he tucks his stick and goes to the goal," Cavuoti said.

But will Murphy do the job?

"Mike has the tools to stop him," Cavuoti said. "If he plays solid position defense and keeps him away from the perimeter of the cage, he'll neutralize him."

Cornell has lost several key players to graduation, including All-America attackman Tim Goldstein and scoring machine John Wurzburger. But the Crimson has beaten the Big Red only once in Ithaca during Cornell Coach Richie Moran's 20-year tenure.

And Schoellkopf's astroturf suits Cornell's fast-paced transition game much better than Anderson's patient ball-control offense.

"I don't think you can say, `This is what works for them on their field' and change your game," Anderson said. "We're not going to stop doing what we do best."

Between the pipes, the Big Red has a big advantage. Crimson freshman goaltender Chris Miller was impressive in last week's 8-4 victory over C.W. Post, but he has had limited experience on turf. Cornell netminder Paul Schimoler was a key to the Big Red's second-place finishes in the 1987 and 1988 NCAA championships.

"I think Schimoler is the best goalie in the country," Anderson said. "We have to keep shooting at him, but we have to shoot smart."

So will the Big Red against Miller.

"We know he's a good goalie from Westfield, [N.J.]," Meyer said. We'll respect him like anyone else. Two years ago in the NCAA championship game, we faced a freshman goalie [Quint Keffnich of Johns Hopkins], and he won the MVP."

As for Cornell's home-turf advantage, Cavuoti revealed that the Crimson had developed a special antidote.

"We've been running on a mushy field all week in practice. It's like a giant pillow," Cavuoti said. "When we get on the turf, we'll be like Ricochet Rabbit."

Last Year march 19, 1988

Harvard defeated the Big Re, 7-6, at Ohiri Field when Rich van den Brock scored the winning goal with eight seconds left in the game.