Stickwomen Lose, 2-0, But Earn Play-off Berth

You'd better sit down for this one.

The Harvard field hockey team lives to play another dayGiven up for dead after Friday's loss to Yale, it has been awarded the eighth seed in the eight-team EAIAW championships at Springfield College this weekend.

Thus, with a 4-7-3 record, no wins in their last five games and none all season long against Division I opponents, the stickwomen are still in the race for a national tournament berth.

It happened because they were the lucky benefactor of a numbers game. Only nine teams applied for the eight spots, and the EAIAW coaches committee (Springfield College's Dottie Zenaty, Yale's Robin Cash and New Hampshire's Jean Rilling) chose Harvard over Providence College, although the Crimson has lost to five of the seven other teams.

Ironically, the only team Harvard managed to tie is number-one seed New Hampshire--its first-round opponent.

"Harvard tied the top seed but there's no question that they are the lowest seeded team," Zenaty said. "It would be a big upset if they were to beat UNH."

The Wildcats stand as the region's lone undefeated squad with an 11-0-3 mark, which includes the September 27, 0-0 deadlock with Harvard. UMass, with a 17-1-1 mark --the loss at the hands of UNH -- is seeded second, followed by Springfield, UConn, Dartmouth, Yale and Rhode Island. Only the Rams' 3-6-2 mark is worse than Harvard's.

"I would say quality is very difficult to define by record alone," UMass coach Pam Hixon said. "The top six teams are all very close, and you never know."

Of the six, only Springfield 12-4-2 has as many as four losses, and every team but Yale (6-3-4) has eight wins.

"This is only the second year that the tournament has only contained Division I schools," Zenanty said. "Before that, all three division competed together."

The subdivision of schools by size provides an opportunity for more teamsto get involved in national play, but it creates situations where the number of eligible teams just barely exceeds the number selected. The EAIAW has allowed certain smaller schools which formerly competed in Division I status to retain that status, but surprisingly most have declined.

"I was really surprised that teams like Bridgewater and Cortland decided to go to Division II," Dartmouth's head coach Mary Corrigan said. "Bridgewater played in the tournament last year, and I was afraid we night not get a bid because there were so many good teams. Now, just about everyone is in."

And Harvard intends to take advantage of the system. "I just feel like we've got nothing to lose," co-captain Chris Sailer said. "We're not expected to win, so we can just go out there and upset the big team. We've tied them so that's a big psychological boost --we've proved we can play with them. And, I think we're due."