Stickwomen Steamroll Terriers, 6-0

Sarah Mleczko had done it, and so had Gwill York. Saturday, Kate Martin became only the third Harvard field hockey player to score four goals in a game as the Crimson whipped Boston University, 6-0, at Nickerson Field.

Martin's day began with a taping of her injured hand ("The tighter it's taped the better it feels," she said) and ended with the delivery of four roses--one for each goal--to her door.

The Turf

In between she managed to put the ball into the net four times for the first time in her career ("not even in high school"), racing down the astroturf past the saturnine Terrier defense to unleash a career-high ten shots.

"I love the turf," she said after the game. "it's so fast and speed is my strong point. I can stickhandle more easily."

Martin had plenty of help in the onslaught, as B.U. put up little more than traffic-cone resistance to the Crimson attack. At the end of the first half, Harvard held a 2-0 lead, and 20-0 advantage in shots.

War and Peace?

Way down at the other end, Katie Williams started in goal for the Crimson. The sophomore could have sat back with a good novel in the crease, reading several chapters at a time without looking up, for Terrier forays out of their own zone were infrequent and impotent.

Without so much as touching the ball, Williams exited in favor of freshman Juliett Lamont as the second half opened. Lamont flawlessly handled the one shot on goal she received.

Much of the credit for Harvard's complete dominance goes to the links, Annie Velie and Betsy Torg. Velie played her second consecutive standout game, while Torg, a freshman, delighted the fairsized (for a field hockey game) crowd with her look-the-other-way flip passes and imaginative ball control.

The forwards showed that their offensive shortcomings at UConn last Wednesday were simply a product of the Huskies' stellar defense. Jennifer White notched an assist on Martin's third goal at 5:00 of the second half, and tallied one of her own at 18:05. Sandwiched between the two was Sue Field's first of the season, a flick off of a White pass at 6:30. Martin's record tying marker completed the scoring at 32:15.

CCCP

The final statistics read like Soviet election results: 33-2 in shots, 21-2 in corners, and the 6-0 score. The latter evened the Crimson's record at 1-1, while the Terriers drop to 0-4.

THE NOTEBOOK: The stickwomen will play their home opener at Soldiers Field Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. against UMass... Martin's parents and little brother made the trip from Woburn to watch Kate. They sent the four roses... Freshman Lili Pew made her first varsity appearance, wearing number 6--Martin's number on Wednesday. The change was made because of size considerations, Martin changing to number 9. "I think I'll stick with it," she said.