Field Hockey Takes Lead, Only to Succumb in the End

Some say it is better to have led and lost than never to have led at all.

The Harvard field hockey team would probably disagree.

The Crimson lost to 15th-ranked Princeton Saturday, 3-2, in New Jersey when it let a 2-1 lead scurry out of its hands, yielding two Tiger goals in the final eight minutes of the contest.

This weekend's loss drops Harvard to 3-7-2 overall and 1-2-2 in the Ivies and crushes any hopes the Crimson had of a second Ancient Eight title.

The loss also marks the second time that Harvard has gone into the last minutes of a contest leading a top-ranked team but ended up losing. A week ago, the Crimson allowed 12th-ranked Providence to sneak back into the game with 20 seconds left in the game and go on to win in overtime.

Against Princeton (8-4-1, 4-1-1), there was no overtime but the defeat was just as difficult to swallow.

"It's really hard to lose like this," Co-Captain Rachel Burke said. "Meg [Colligan] was saying that our record would be so much different if we only had to play three-fourths of the game."

In the first half, Harvard kept up with Princeton. The Tigers struck first with less than three minutes left in the period, but the Crimson answered with 12 seconds remaining when sophomore forward Sarah Winters fired the ball past Tiger goalie Melanie Orpen.

"We played pretty evenly with them. They didn't take us lightly," Burke said. "But [Harvard Coach Sue Caples] told us at the half that we were not being aggressive enough."

The Crimson roared into the second half when junior Francie Walton unleashed a shot off a penalty corner at 4:07 to give Harvard its one goal lead.

But that lead turned into a rope around the Crimson's neck.

"We have problems playing with a lead. We tend to sit back and react to what the other team does," Burke said. "It's a young team, and we don't have much poise."

Harvard allowed the Tigers to score two goals within a span of two minutes to escape with the victory.

One reason may have been the absence of junior Amy Belisle. Belisle returned to the lineup Saturday, but a painful stress fracture that sidelined her against Boston College forced the veteran sweeper to leave the game in the second half.

Burke said that the Crimson also made some costly mistakes when it counted.

"We made a lot of errors that led to corners for them," Burke said. "As soon as we were up we sort of relaxed."

Harvard's desperate surge in the waning moments of the match could not reverse the irresistible Princeton tide.

PRINCETON, 3-2 at Gulick Field Princeton  1  2  --  3 Harvard  1  1  --  2

G: Princeton--Karen Collins, Leigh Goldberg, Kim Simmons; Harvard--Sarah Winters, Francie Walton. A: Princeton--Lisa Rebane, Armory Rowe, Liz Fagan (2): Harvard--Emily Buxton, Sarah Downing. S: Princeton--Melanie Orpen 10; Harvard--Jessica Milhollin 19.