SOCCER

To say this will be a building year for the Dartmouth soccer team would be an understatement. Of the 36 men now out for soccer, 25 are sophomores and there are only six returning lettermen. At the present time most of the positions are still wide open.

Coach Whitey Burnham's team sustained three losses before it even took to the field. Bill Fitzhugh, a senior and a fine halfback, has given up the sport because of studies and another letterman center forward Ed Muller has also decided not to go out for soccer this fall. And finally Ivars Bebris, an outstanding forward for the last two years, received a back injury while mountain climbing this summer and is out for an indefinite length of time.

Although the foundation of this year's team may have cracked a little from the above losses, the Indians still have three strong pillars upon which to build. Captain John Carpenter should be a standout at center halfback; Russ Turmail has fine potential at right halfback and junior Ron Knapp, the team's leading scorer in 1962, returns to the forward line.

The only other forwards who have appeared to have nailed down starting berths are Jim Pool and Tim Paige, a pair of sophomores. The rest of the line, with the exceptions of Knapp's position, is wide open.

When looking at this year's team it must be realized that Coach Burnham lost four defensemen, who had been standouts during the last two years the two biggest losses probably that of Skip Mattoon, last year's captain and goalie Dave Smoyer. Turmail and Carpenter are assured of filling two of the halfback slots, but the other is still up for grabs. At fullback Hank Amon and Bill Duval will probably be two of the starting fullbacks. And finally in the goal it is a fight between five candidates, with Bill Thompson possibly having the edge.

Coach Burnham is by no means pessimistic about the coming season, for he realizes this is going to be a building year. The sophomores have potential (the freshmen were 9-1 in 1962) and by next year could develop. The team, however, may find it difficult to improve on the record five wins, five losses, and one tie of last year or on the fifth-place Ivy League finish.