Wet Start for Stickwomen

The Harvard field hockey team opened its season Friday at Cumnock Field under a wet, gray blanket of clouds. The moisture soaked through the down of the sky and fell to the ground in a lethargic drizzle.

After the game, the rain stopped, but that wet blanket had already found its way onto the field and had covered the Crimson players and coaches.

In its first game of the season, Harvard fell to an uninspiring New Hampshire team, 1-0. The Wildcats scored off a penalty shot given to them on a controversial call in the Crimson circle, and even more sadly, UNH had held a Harvard team packed with potential offensive stars to no goals.

Sunday, Harvard travelled to Orono, Me. with the hopes of fulfilling more of that potential, but the Crimson met a stubborn Black Bear team and lost by one goal again, falling 2-1 on another muddy day.

"We're so close to putting things together," Harvard Coach Sue Caples said. "But at the same time we're far from where we want to be."

And the Crimson is also far from where it expected to be at this point. After a preseason pregnant with possibility, Harvard coaches and players foresaw a fast start in its first few games--a start that would help erase the memory of last year's last place finish, and the bevy of one-goal losses that dragged the Crimson down into the cellar of the Ivy League.

Some of last season's problems have proven harder to shake off than Caples had thought. The Crimson still needs a consistent scorer (or, more preferably, a group of scorers) to take advantage of its many opportunities in opponents' circles.

Against Maine, Harvard mustered 16 shots in the Black Bears' end of the field, but its only goal came off a penalty corner when co-captain Francie Walton opened the scoring for the season with one of her trademark blistering shots.

Another problem, according to Caples, is a solidified and solid line-up. Last year injuries and a lack of depth forced Caples to keep shifting her lineup throughout the season. One of the coach's goals this year was to solidify a lineup early, but Caples said Sunday she still is not entirely satisfied with her lineups.

Different Combinations

"I tried to use different combinations of people on the left side to generate more attack from there," Caples said. "But with every player you gain some strengths and you lose others."

Caples, an All-American herself at Massachusetts, also pointed to the defense. Sophomore netminder Jessica Milhollin has collected a respectable 20 saves in her two games in goal, but without the offensive support she needs Milhollin may be feeling like pitching ace Steve Avery on the pre-McGriff Atlanta Braves.

Of course, all is not gloomy on Harvard's side of the field. Indeed, one other understandable reason for the Crimson's problems so far is that they have only played a total of two games. The Wildcats had already played three times before they faced the Crimson, and Sunday's contest was Maine's fifth of the season.

Caples, as well as co-captain Emily Buxton, believe the team is still extremely capable of conjuring the type of stick magic that got the Crimson to the NCAA tourney in 1991.

"Once things start to fall into place, it will be a ripple effect," Caples said.

"With a little attitude adjustment and a few more games, we'll be right back up there," Buxton said.

Harvard has yet to face an Ancient Eight team and will not do so until it travels to Ithaca, N.Y. in October. For the first time ever, this year's Ivy champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and that fact has certainly not been overlooked by Caples and Buxton. The Crimson, then, has chosen a convenient time to struggle.

Nevertheless, if Harvard fails to throw off the wet blanket under which it slept for its first two games, it could mean an early bedtime for the Crimson and not so pleasant dreams.