Elis Shut Out Slumping Stickwomen, 1-0

When the Harvard field hockey team downed defending Ivy League champion Penn in early October, its chances to capture its first-ever Ivy title were strong. The team had put itself into the enviable position of being able to determine its own fate for the Ivy crown.

But that is where the up side of the season ended and the down side began.

Culminating with its 1-0 loss to Yale yesterday in New Haven, the Crimson--winless against all its other Ivy League foes--closed out its season near the Ivy cellar.

The stickwomen met two old foes yesterday in Conneticut--the last-place Elis and, fatally, their inability to take advantage of scoring oppurtunities.

The loss lowered Harvard's record to 6-7-2 overall, 1-4-1 Ivy. With the win, the Elis (4-11 overall) captured its first Ivy victory after five losses.

While the Crimson dominated the match in every statistical category, including shots (27 to Yale's 14), the Bulldogs erased any apparent advantage when Yale forward Katie O'Sullivan put in the game's only tally 20:20 into the second half. The goal sealed the stickwomen's fate and put an end to their roller-coaster season.

"It's frustrating because we controlled the game and had many more shots than they did," Tri-Captain Kate Felsen said. "We outplayed them, but we just couldn't put the ball in the cage."

The match was controlled by the goaltenders on both ends of the field, as Harvard's Denise Katsias battled Yale's super sophomore Sue Sabatino--last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

"We were better man for man in the field, but we couldn't beat their last man," Felsen said, frustratingly. "We beat their first 10 men time after time, but we couldn't beat Sabatino."

Nothing But Praise

Despite the fact that the stickwomen lost their last four games, Harvard Coach Nita Lamborghini had nothing but praise for the players, many of whom played with injuries through most of the second half of the season.

"We were hurt in the latter part of the season by injuries to Jane [Grim] and Katie [McEnaney]," Lamborghini said, making it clear that this was no reason for the Crimson's four-game losing streak. "But this is not an excuse, it's a fact."

"I was pleased with our effort given the status of our health," Lamborghini continued. "Even though this is a tough game for the seniors to end their season on, we have to remember that this is the best season we have had here in a long time."

Collapse

Even though Harvard collapsed at the end of the season, it did show marked improvement from last year.

"We improved to 6-7-2 this year after going 3-8-4 last year," Lamborghini went on. "I am proud of what we accomplished this season. Improvements in field hockey are made in small increments and we made a lot of improvement."