F. Hockey Wins, 1-0

The Harvard women's field hockey team opened its season with 1-0 triumph over the University of Rhode Island Saturday at Ohiri Field.

Junior forward Lisa Cutone scored the lone goal early in the second half on a cross pass from classmate Sharon Landau during a scuffle in front of the goal. Cutone, who was one of the top goal scorers on the team last season with five tallies, redeemed herself for a missed penalty stroke awarded the Crimson (1-0 overall, 0-0 Ivy League) on a goalie foul minutes before.

Harvard, playing with two freshmen--left halfback Cici Clark and left midfielder Sandra White--and a rearranged backfield to compensate for the absence of injured sweeper Lynn Frangione, was shaky in the opening minutes of the game.

"The first half was shaky but we got tougher," sophomore Erin O'Brien said. "The second half we picked up and did much better."

The goal was a confidence builder, and the Crimson relaxed and controlled play for the remainder of the contest.

"They were much tougher than we expected them to be," Co-Captain Katie McAnaney said. "We didn't expect it to be so tight."

Harvard had trouble on penalty corner situations and could not score on any of its attempts.

"We had thought we would connect more on short corner situations," McAnaney said. "We got a lot of corners, but we didn't follow through."

THE NOTEBOOK: Co-Captain and goalie Denise Katsias recorded 12 saves in the contest...Two other freshmen saw action in the opener, midfielders Kristen Fowler and Becky Gaffney...The Crimson will host Northeastern Wednesday.