Kelly Landry: Going Ape

Last Saturday, Harvard women's soccer star Kelly Landry shook a monkey from her back and scored five goals in two games to sequre her spot as Harvard's all-time leading scorer.

Wednesday, Landry grabbed the monkey and beat it to a pulp.

The senior left wing, mired in a scoring slump, broke our with a hat trick and led the 14th-ranked Crimson (now 7-1-1) to its biggest upset of the year, a 3-1 thrashing of fifth-ranked Boston College.

The high-flying Eagles were grounded by the tenacious defense of Harvard fullbacks Joan Elliott, Lori Barry and Julie Agar, and stopper Inga Larson.

And as is getting to be her habit, freshman netminder Tracee Whitley pitched in big saves and strong ball distribution to keep the Crimson in the contest.

But the Harvard defense, which has allowed only three goals in nine games has been stingy all year.

The difference against B.C. was Landry, who shook up a moribund offense with a spectacular three-goal performance.

Double Trouble

All of the Crimson's better opponents give the All-American forward special attention. Against the University of Vermont two weeks ago, for example, Landry was accorded a double done of respect and found herself marked by a pair of defenders all afternoon.

Wednesday the Lexington, Mass. native ignored her new-found B.C. friends and concentrated instead on getting to know the back of the Eagle net.

Repeatedly she made the instinctive offensive moves that set her apart from her peers and make her possibly the best Harvard women's soccer player of all time.

Early in the second half, Landry the ball-handling wizard dribbled past a swarm of startled Eagles and beat B.C. netminder Kathy Brophy.

Two minutes later, Landry the opportunist took advantage of a Brophy error to earn her second score.

So Sly

Finally, Landry the sly slipped behind the Eagle defense, picked up a long crossing pass and took Brophy to school.

After scoring a pair of goals in the booters' 5-0 shutout of the University of New Hampshire on September 26, Landry--normally good for at least a goal per game--had trouble finding the trigger against Brown and Keene State the next week.

Despite the Landry drought, the Crimson notched a 2-0 victory over Keene State, the nation's top Division II squad.

The following Saturday, Landry was helpless as dogged Bruin defenders bottled her up all morning and propelled their squad to a 1-0 victory over Harvard.

But with eight goals in her last three games and a bleeding monkey lying behind her, Kelly Landry isn't doing any looking back.