Women Booters Shock UMass, 3-2

The Harvard women's soccer learn shocked the nation's third-ranked University of Massachusetts squad 3-2, in overtime yesterday, on a bitterly cold Ohirl Field.

And they did largely on the foot of a 5-ft., 3-in, freshman.

With the two teams tied, 2-2, in the final seconds of the first overtime, tiny Electa Sevier picked up the ball at midfield, dribbled 25 yards and launched a perfect chip pass to a streaking Kelly Landry. The junior then blasted the ball past a helpless UMass goalie to give the Crimson a 3-2 advantage with just two seconds left in the first overtime period.

"It was as nice a chip as it was perfect," said Harvard coach Bob Scalise after the game. "Electa was awesome."

When the game's second 10-minute overtime period ended, Harvard had its stunning 3-2 upset.

The crucial overtime assist was not Sevier's or contribution, however. With the Crimson trailing 2-1, and under 6 minutes left in the game, Captain Inga Larson was tripped and sprained her knew. The injury was yet another blow to a team that lost its best striker and starting goalkeeper for the season in its first game.

But when play resumed, Larson's replacement, Joan Elliot, knocked the ball to Sevier at the top of the penalty box. After Sevier had spun and fired a high, hard shot well beyond the reach of the goalkeeper, it was all tied up and overtime was just minutes away.

The stunning upset was particularly important to the Crimson after its 4-3 overtime loss to Princeton last Saturday. Leading that game 3-2 in the second overtime, Harvard surrendered two late goals.

Besides regaining confidence with yesterday's win, the Crimson also put itself squarely back into the NCAA playoff picture. If the Crimson can notch wins over B.U. on Thursday at home and Brown Saturday in Providence, Scalise said that he would be surprised if his squad did not receive a tournament bid.

But Larson's injury will probably keep her out of both contests and make it much tougher for the Crimson.

"They deserved to win," said UMass Coach Kalekam Banda. "They came in here the underdog and they wanted to win. We have played much better than this, but they deserved it."

In victory, Scalise could find nothing to criticize. "That is about as well as we have ever played," he said after the game. "We can play with the best of them."

Despite starting no seniors and four freshman, the Crimson exhibited the poise of an older, more experienced squad yesterday in rebounding so well from its heartbreaking loss to Princeton.

Harvard opened the game a little nervously, but did not bow to early Minuteman pressure and began to generate its own offensive opportunities. the first half rapidly developed into an intense battle for field position, with neither squad tallying a goal.

In the second half, the Crimson struck first Ten minutes into the period, freshman Wendy Zeeben took a crossing pass in the penalty box, deked a defender and shot high over netminder Lisa Ellis into the net for a 1-0 Crimson lead.

The Minutemen's Stacy Flionis tied the game minutes later on a penalty shot. After 20 minutes of up-and-down play. UMass took the lead. Flionis set up Nancy komarowsky right in front of the Harvard net and the sophomore beat Crimson freshman goalie Lasa Rowning to give the Minutemen a 2-1 lead.

All of which set the stage for Sevier's heroies.

Women's Volleyball

The Harvard women's volleyball team defeated Williams. 15-9, 15-9, last night but then dropped a closer three-game match to Yale in the IAB.

The Crimson enjoyed a relatively easy 15-4 victory over Yale in the first game of the match, but fell behind in the second two tension tilled games which Yale won 17-15 and 15-10