Stickwomen Shut Down Bentley, B.U.; Crimson Undefeated After Four Games

Like a child trying to force catsup out of a newly opened bottle, the Harvard field hockey team needed a whole lot of shaking, pounding, frustration and anticipation before it could score a goal in yesterday's shutouts of Bentley College and Boston University on Soldiers Field.

The stick women kept their undefeated season alive by blanking both the Eagles, 3-0, in the morning and the Terriers, 1-0, four hours later. Harvard takes a 3-0-1 mark into tomorrow's contest with visiting Northeastern.

The Crimson dominated both Bentley and B.U., but entered halftime of each game in a scoreless tie with its outplayed opponent. In the B.U. battle, Harvard amassed a 10-0 lead in penalty corners before capitalizing on one 21 minutes into the second half.

Crimson forward Jennifer White hit the penalty corner blast to the top of the penalty circle, where Beth Mullen stopped the ball and then smashed a shot off of Terrier netminder Paige Whittle. The rebound slid off to the left side of the goal where White was waiting.

The senior left wing lofted the ball toward the goal, where Whittle tried to make a lefthanded save. When the ball bounced off Whittle's hand and fell into the goal. Harvard had captured the game's only score.

B.U. never really threatened the Crimson goal, where goalie Juliet Lamont easily stopped the Terriers' one shot on goal. Almost all of the action took place in the B.U. half of the field, much of it directly on front of the B.U. net. The stickwomen peppered Whittle with a dozen shots.

Crimson coach Edie Mabrey attributed her squad's second-game scoring woes to fatigue. "That game should have been 3-0," Mabrey said. "We crowded each other a little too much. It happens when you get tired."

Cramped Offense

Mabrey wants her team to spread out its offense, thereby forcing opposing defenses to cover more ground. As the stick women tire, they begin to migrate toward the ball, defenders in tow. The result is a cramped offense that keeps the ball in front of the goal but can't find the back of the net.

The offense got less cramped in the second half of the Bentley match. Harvard pressured the Bentley net at the outset of the half, but four penalty corners and a Kate Martin near-miss later, the stickwomen were still in a scoreless deadlock. After 14 minutes of anticipation, Jenney Hunnewell managed to flip the ball to White. White weathered a crowd to the left of the Bentley net to tap in Harvard's first tally of the day.

White made her mark again seven minutes later when she assisted on fellow wing Martin's insurance goal. Martin completed the circle, assisting on Hunnewell's insurance goal with less than four minutes remaining in the game.

THE NOTEBOOK: After Harvard's season-opening conquest of Providence. Mabrey expressed concern over her team's "big game"--the long passes and clearing drives that can turn a game around in a hurry.