Booters Capture Ivies; Greeley MVP

PRINCETON, N.J.--It was 1978 again. It was 1979 again. It was 1981 and it was the Harvard women's soccer dynasty again as co-captain Cat Ferrante's goal with 30 seconds left in the overtime period of the championship game of the Ivy League tournament iced a 4-3 victory over archrival Brown--again--and provided coach Bob Scalise with his third Ivy title in four years.

"It was a good game, a close game. Brown is talented. But the thing is, when the chips are down, this team has the ability to fire up, to charge back. I've seen it against UConn, I've seen it against Princeton, and I saw it today," Scalise said after the game.

Ferrante, an active participant in all three of the Crimson's championships, was instrumental in Saturday night's victory, as was Harvard's bevy of talented freshmen. Brightest in a stellar group was mid-fielder Jenny Greeley, whose efforts earned her the tournament MVP. Tallying two goals on the tourney, and continuously thwarting opposing ballhandlers, Greeley dominated the midfield offensively and defensively.

Flurry

In an unprecedented accomplishment, Greeley and all four of her freshmen teammates on the starting lineup--strikers Kelly Landry and Alicia Carrillo, midfielder Inga Larson, and sweeper Debbie Field--were named to the All-Ivy first team. Ferrante and fullback Jeannie Piersak were named to the second team, and fullback Kelly Gately was named honorable mention.

The Harvard-Brown history is an old--and well-documented--one. In the years that Ivy League women's soccer was a club sport, Brown dominated Northeastern soccer. But starting in 1978 with the advent of varsity status for the sport, Harvard emerged as a usurper to Brown's crown, defeating the Bruins in the finals of the first two Ivy Championships.

But lest the rivalry become too one-sided, the Bruins reasserted themselves last year and eliminated the Crimson in the tournament semifinals, 3-1.

Harvard and Brown advanced to this year's finals by vastly different routes. After a first-round bye, the top-seeded Crimson routinely dispensed with Yale, 2-0, Saturday morning on first half goals by Greeley and Landry. The Bruins, on the other hand, after dismissing Cornell in Friday's first round, struggled long and hard for a 1-0 semifinal victory over Princeton.

However, Brown showed no signs of fatigue on Saturday night's contest, as Frances Fusco beat the still untracked Crimson with the game's first tally at 2:40.

Ten minutes later, defensive confusion in front of the Brown goal gave Alicia Carrillo the chance to tap a shot across the goal line and even the score at 1-1. The goal loosened the Crimson up, and a Landry drive off a Gately feed took Harvard into halftime with a 2-1 lead.

See-Saw

After Bruin Cameron Tuttle knotted the game at two, the see-saw battle continued when Harvard's Carrillo launched a bomb on the Brown goal, putting the ball in from, literally, a quarter-field away. The shot stunned both teams, and as the ball sailed under the crossbar, Carrillo raised her fist and emphatically punched the cool night air.

With Harvard hoping to sit on its lead, Fusco found herself alone in front of the open goal after a defensive miscue at 25:50, and knotted the score at 3-3, where it remained until time expired.

Scoring

Harvard knocked on the Brown door several times in the overtime period, but it didn't open until just 30 seconds remained. Taking the ball at mid-field, Greeley carried it herself into scoring range and fired a scorching grounder at the net. Bruin goalie Kate Lanou deflected the shot with a diving save, but Ferrante, closing from the left wing, pumped the rebound past the prone Lanou to give Harvard the championship trophy.