Women's Soccer Looking to Replace Lost Offense

The outlook for the Harvard women's soccer team resembles the Chicago Bears.'

A great defense, a great midfield and a suspect offense. Very suspect.

With the graduation of Robin Johnston and Jenn Minus, the team's two top scorers last year, the Crimson will have trouble running up the score.

The challenge for Coach Tim Wheaton's sixth year will be to find the personnel to surround senior Laurie Uustal, last's year third leading scorer. For a team that struggled to put the ball in the net last year, that could be tough.

"We're really looking for more production from the midfield," Wheaton said. "It's going to have to be a change in attitude, from relying on others to do the scoring to taking it upon yourself."

Eaton cited senior Christy Gaschler and sophomores Libby Eynon and Sarah Simmons as leading candidates to replace Johnston and Minus.

"They'll pick up some of the slack, but the midfield will still be the key," Eaton said.

Fortunately, the midfield returns intact. Co-Captain Sharon Olken, who led the team in assists, has recovered from a knee injury that hindered her play last year. Junior Laura Flynn will start with Olken as an inside midfielder, while juniors Martha Schneider and Patti Kornfeld and sophomore Beth Morgan will compete for spots on the wings. All three saw playing time last year.

Olsen says the team will have to adopt a "wait-and-see" position on offensive production.

"We have a lot of people who can step up and produce," the Co-Captain said. "We'll be stretched to our potential, but that's a good thing."

The defense, perhaps the strongest part of the team despite the loss of two players to graduation, will be led by the Crimson's defensive star, first-team All-Ivy sweeper and Co-Captain Erin Matias.

Junior Meg Berte will start for the second year on the defensive wing. Sophomores Genevieve Chelius, Caroline Schreiber and Liz McNamee will battle for the other two openings.

In goal, junior Brooke Donahoe will start for the second year.

"Our defense is really the core of our team. From there, we have to build forward and click on offense," Uustal said.

Another problem the team must overcome is injuries. Currently, much of the team is sidelined with petty injuries but expects to return by the start of the season.

The most serious injuries are to Olken and Uustal. Uustal underwent hip surgery in the off-season and describes the hip as "touch-and-go." Olken has a seriously sprained ankle.

But both athletes say they'll be back early, and definitely in time for the Crimson's September 18 game with second-ranked Stanford.

Wheaton has lined up a murderous schedule for Harvard. In addition to Stanford, the Crimson, currently ranked seventh in the East, will face national powers Massachusetts, Providence and Connecticut, as well as the perennially tough Ivy League teams.

"Cornell [the 1991 Ivy champions] has a good recruiting class this year, and they're always strong," Olken said. "But we should have beaten them last year and we should beat them this year."

If Wheaton can wave the wand and create offense, the team has more than enough talent at the other positions to take it back to the ECAC tournament, where it was a first-round loser to James Madison last year.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Coach: Tim Wheaton

Captains: Erin Matias, Sharon Olken

1991 Overall Record: 9-5-1

1991 Ivy Record: 5-2-0

1991 Ivy Finish: 2nd (tie)

WOMEN'S SOCCER: '91 RESULTS 9/14  at Maine  4-1  W  1-0-0 9/18  at New Hampshire  2-2 (OT)  T  1-0-1 9/21  Columbia  3-1  W  2-0-1 9/28  at Brown  0-3  L  2-1-1 10/1  at Boston College  1-3  L  2-2-1 10/5  Pennsylvania  10-2  W  3-2-1 10/8  Holy Cross  3-0  W  4-2-1 10/12  Connecticut  1-4  L  4-3-1 10/16  Massachusetts  1-0  W  5-3-1 10/19  at Cornell  1-2  L  5-4-1 10/22  at Yale  2-0  W  6-4-1 10/26  Princeton  2-1  W  7-4-1 10/29  Providence  1-0  W  8-4-1 11/2  Dartmouth  3-1  W  9-4-1 11/7  James Madison  1-2  L  9-5-1

WOMEN'S SOCCER: '92 SCHEDULE 9/16  Maine  4:30 p.m. 9/18  Stanford  3:00 p.m. 9/20  at Columbia  1:00 p.m. 9/23  at Massachusetts  3:00 p.m. 9/26  Brown  11:00 a.m. 9/29  Boston College  3:00 p.m. 10/2  at Pennsylvania  4:00 p.m. 10/6  at Connecticut  3:00 p.m. 10/10  Cornell  2:30 p.m. 10/12  at Holy Cross  3:00 p.m. 10/15  New Hampshire  3:00 p.m. 10/20  Yale  3:00 p.m. 10/24  at Princeton  11:00 a.m. 10/28  at Providence  2:00 p.m. 10/31  Dartmouth  2:30 p.m.