Runyon Sparks Latest 2-1 Triumph, Stickwomen Marching Towards Title

Just seconds earlier, Linda Runyon muffed Harvard's finest scoring opportunity of the afternoon, but now, she had just converted the Crimson's biggest play for the biggest score in the most important game so far this year.

Runyon brought the field hockey squad alive with that tying goal just seven seconds before halftime, and Beth Mullen and Juliet Lamont provided the heroics in the second half Saturday, as the Crimson posted a dramatic 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Princeton on Soldiers Field.

Runyon's goal set the stage for Mullen's game-winning blast and Lamont's game-saving stabs. After four consecutive unsuccessful penalty corners--one mixed by a Runyon error--the sophomore sensation took the fifth corner pass from Andy Mainelli and snapped it past a horde of Tiger defenders.

The nail-biting win gave the Crimson its first victory over Princeton in five years and raised the Harvard record to 6-5.

But more importantly, the Ivy win kept the Cantabs a perfect 4-0 in the Ivy League race. The team needs only one win in its last two games to gain its first-ever Ivy title and the accompanying NCAA tournament berth.

But Harvard never should have been in a position to fight for its life Saturday. After all, the Crimson met a Princeton squad which was just this side of terrible--the same team that last year ripped apart the entire Ivy League and fought its way to the NCAA tourney has now amassed a 1-8-3 overall record and 0-4-1 Ivy mark.

"I think what happened at first," Captain Ellen O'Neill said, "was that we were intimidated by Princeton just because we had never beaten them."

"We were really nervous at first," added Coach Edie Mabrey, who is now 1-4 against the Tigers.

To say that the Tigers took advantage of the Crimson's early-game jitters would be missing the point. In the first 20 minutes, Princeton had a field day. Tiger Captain Sue McCarter tallied the first goal with just over nine minutes gone.

While Tiger Coach Betty Logan spent the next 25 minutes sending shouts of "What have you done for me lately?" towards her squad, Mabrey tried waking up her troops.

The Crimson's alarm finally went off with seven seconds left in the first, and it didn't take much more time for Harvard to put the Tigers to bed.

With Runyon's goal on the board, the Crimson kept the pressure on for much of the second half, scoring the winning goal at 19:30 when Mullen took a centering pass and sent a grenade past goalkeeper Caroline Burkhart.

"We didn't really play well," Mabrey said. "But we did what we needed to get the win." THE NOTEBOOK: Runyon's goal ended a game-and-a-half scoreless drought for the Crimson...The stickwomen meet Springfield at 3 p.m. Tuesday...Lamont finished with 10 saves...Harvard outshot Princeton, 21-13.