W. Booters Blank Elis, 2-0

It's called winning ugly.

It's when the offense isn't working, the passes aren't clicking, the players aren't hustling and the defense is getting beat.

But somehow the goals are scored.

It's how the Harvard women's soccer team defeated Yale, 2-0, in New Haven, Conn., yesterday.

Jen Minkus and sophomore Martha Schneider tallied for the Crimson.

The poor play of the Crimson (6-4-1, 3-2-0 Ivy) was disheartening.

"I'm happy we won, but we have to return to our top potential," Co-Captain Robin Johnston said. "We have to start playing like we did against Massachusetts again."

While the team was unhappy with its play, the players clearly relished the victory.

"Good teams win when they play well and win when they play well and win when they play badly," Minkus said. "I guess today we proved we're a good team."

While the Crimson is a good team, it did not play like one against the upset-minded Elis.

In the first half, Harvard played so poorly that it made lowly Yale (3-9-1, 1-4-0 Ivy) look good.

The Elis exploited Harvard's slack midfield defense and kept play dangerously close to the Crimson goal box.

"It was easy to get frustrated against their short passing game," midfielder Betsy Miller said. "If you played your man tight, she simply passed three feet to another player. We had to lay off."

Harvard's defense toughened in the box, however. The Bulldogs got off several excellent shots, but Crimson goalie Brooke Donahoe made the necessary saves to keep the game scoreless.

"We totally dominated the first half," Yale Coach Felice Duffy said. "Our game plan was really clicking."

Harvard had one real chance to score, but sensational play by Bulldogs' goalie Tina Pihl rejected consecutive point-blank shots by Minkus and Laurie Uustal.

Needless to say, Crimson Coach Tim Wheaton was not happy with his team.

"We were playing like we were underwater," he said.

"We were really flat," Johnston said. "We were unsure how we we're going to play after Cornell [a 2-1 loss], and I guess we played scared."

After an "invigorating" halftime pep talk, Wheaton sent his players back on the field against the hopeful Elis.

"[Wheaton] fired us up a bit for the second half," sweeper Erin Matias said.

The improvement was obvious less than five minutes into the half, when Miller took a midfield pass from sophomore Laura Flynn and outraced her defender to the goal box. There, she crossed the ball to a waiting Minkus, who knocked the ball in for the easy score.

But Yale would not give up. They regained control of the ball and returned play to the Crimson goal area. Again, Donahoe made the great saves, and again, Yale could not score despite outshooting Harvard, 14-7, in the second half.

"We just couldn't finish," Duffy said. "We had lots of chances, but we couldn't finish."

Schneider provided the insurance the Crimson needed. With 20 minutes to go, she chased down a missed cross, then turned and launched a shot over the unsuspecting Elis goalie for the first collegiate goal of her career.

Donahoe and the Crimson defense were able to hold off the Elis' desperation attacks to seal the shutout victory.

However poor the quality of team play may have been, the game illustrated a strength of this Crimson squad: outstanding individual talent.

While the team foundered, Co-Captains Johnston and Amy Weinstein carried the team on offense and defense.

Johnston turned in an especially strong performance. Her breakaway drives kept the Elis' defense in their half of the field. She also helped out on defense, surprising the sometimes complacent Yale forwards.

"All day long, she turned no-win situations into dangerous scoring opportunities for us," Wheaton said.

Another highlight of the day was the play of Donahoe, who recorded her second shutout in three games. The hesitation and uncertainty that marked her play earlier in the season has disappeared, replaced by a more aggressive style of goalkeeping.

Against Yale, her speed in getting rid of the ball jumpstarted the Crimson attack.

"Anytime you get a shutout in the Ivy League, you've done well. But it was her smart distribution that impressed me the most today," Wheaton said.

The depth of the bench was another positive factor. Wheaton has been able to call players up from the pine and suffer no appreciable dropoff in play on the field. Yesterday, Kristy Gaschler, Schneider and Patty Kornfield turned in quality minutes, with Schneider scoring the insurance goal unassisted.

Despite all these silver linings, there still is no escaping the fact that Harvard played an atrocious game.

"I'm relieved that we got out of there with the win," said Miller. "But I really wish we had crushed them sooner."

"We've got to get back on track," Johnston said.