Stickwomen Bounce Back, Hand Terriers 2-0 Loss

Trash the eulogies, throw away the obituaries. The Harvard field hockey squad is alive and well. Extremely well.

For the stickwomen came back to life last night, turning in their finest performance of the year to down Boston University, 2-0, and bring to an end a two-game skid.

And in case you missed it--which most of you probably did--be assured that this B.U. team was no cakewalk. Not that the Terriers will set the field hockey world on fire any day soon, but they did present a formidable challenge with freshmen June O'Hara and JoAnne Griffin and goalie Paige Whittle.

But as afternoon turned to night on the artificial turf of B.U.'s Nickerson Field, the resurging Crimson squad whittled away any Terrier hopes, using its two first half goals and a stellar second half defensive effort to preserve the oh-so-impressive win.

All of which adds up to good news for the Harvard squad as it prepares to begin its run for its first-ever Ivy title. With last night's triumph, the Crimson will take a 2-3 mark into Saturday's league opener against Penn.

Along with its improved record, the Cantabs will bring some sorely needed confidence into the Saturday showdown. With the problems of its first four games behind them, and the newly found knowledge that they are not really as bad as their record indicated, the stickwomen now know they can win.

"It's one thing to play well," Harvard Coach Edie Mabrey said last night. "It's another to play well and win."

And did the Crimson ever play well last night. Unlike previous games when the stick-women controlled everything but the keys to the opponents but last night they controlled not only the game but also the scoring.

"You had to know it was coming, "Mabrey said. "We'd been playing so well, it was just a matter of time before we turned that into some scores."

The Crimson opened its assault on Whittle early, when sophomore Bambi Taylor took the ball from teammate. Trina Burnham and sent it flying past the Terrier goalie with 20:56 remaining in the first.

With almost the entire Crimson squad--all the way from Beth Mullen back on defense to the Ellen O'Neil at midfield and Andy Mainelli up on offense--getting in on the act, it took some tremendous saves by Whittle to keep the score from getting out of hand.

But with just 2:56 left in the first, the Cantabs finally sneaked one past Whittle, when sophomore Linda Runyon took a pass from Patty Constantikes and sent the ball into the back of the twines.

The visitors then turned to their strong point--defense--to hold off a furious Terrier assault and preserve Crimson goalie Juliet Lamont's first shutout of the year.

"It was just so important to get a win and head into the Penn game with a lot of confidence," said Lamont, whose spectacular defensive performance was equaled on offense by that of sophomore Michelle Ippolito.

And all that spectaculars only made for some very happy faces after the victory. But it took Mabrey to put it into perspective: "We're alive."

A truer statement was never spoken.