SOCCER

George Beim has barely begun as Dartmouth's soccer coach and already he's had a roller coaster ride to either end of the spectrum of triumph and frustration.

"We've felt that if we can improve our ball control ability, we'll be all right," said the man who succeeded Whitey Burnham this fall.

It appeared that Beim's message was getting through to his players in the pre-season scrimmages (Dartmouth won two of three trial efforts) but the opener at Middlebury was utter misery.

The Panthers won, 2-1, and it seemed that nothing would work right.

"I told them that they'd have to show me what they were made of if we were going to have a respectable team," said Beim, and three days later at Springfield College, the Indians were indeed respectable. They played a 1-1 tie with Springfield, then a nationally ranked team.

What followed was more of the roller coaster but the ups have outdistanced the downs. At Amherst, Wayne Pirmann got the goal that gave Dartmouth a 1-0 win. Four days later, Dartmouth demonstrated its control ability but couldn't put a shot into the Williams net and had to settle for a scoreless tie. The Ivy opener with Princeton was a day of anxiety for the Indians who outshot the Tigers 26-12 but again couldn't find the goal and went down, 2-1.

But then came the crowning achievement of the first half of the season—Dartmouth 1, Brown 0.

For the first time since they shared the Ivy title with the Bruins in 1964, the Indians were in command against their nationally rated Ivy foe.

The goal came in the second period on a penalty kick by Gary Gaspar, a forward from Springfield, Mass., and the rest of the game saw the Indians keep the dangerous Bruins at bay.

John Orange, who has three shutouts in the Dartmouth goal and is averaging more than ten saves per game, was superb against Brown and Springfield. He is a key in the defensive alignment that has been juggled to advantage by Beim this fall.

"We have good defense with Rich Gilford (a rangy conversion from forward), Al Goodloe, and Bill Tanis," said Biem. In the midfield, sophomore Bob Jordan has proven himself the best newcomer. Up front, Gaspar, Mike Meehan, Pirmann, and Randy Quayle are doing a solid job.

The 2-2-2 record at midseason might easily be better but for the fateful injury to Charlie Silcox, the captain and All-America halfback from Gladwyne, Pa. Silcox had just recovered from a preseason ankle sprain when he suffered a knee injury at Springfield that has since required surgery and cost him the entire season.

"I feel sorry for the team but I'm more sorry for Charlie," said Beim. "He seemed certain to again be an All-America and it was plain to see how much the season meant to him."