F. Hockey Readies For Season's End

The Harvard field hockey team has got an itty-bitty problem.

They aren't winning.

Besides that, things are going great.

The team is playing reasonably well, and has even shown some flashes of brilliance.

But the Crimson's opponent has always shone brighter. Or more consistently. Or simply done enough to get a win on the board.

After rebounding from a 1-3 start with two straight wins, Harvard (2-2 Ivy, 4-8 overall) has dropped five of its last six games, including Saturday's 3-0 loss to Princeton in the Garden State.

For the most part, the Crimson is playing good teams. Princeton is currently ranked 14th in the nation, and Harvard has also lost to numbers eight, 15, 17, and 18.

In other words, it's not like they are playing the Little Sisters of the Poor.

The 4-8 record screams out, nevertheless. And the schedule doesn't get any easier.

Today, Harvard hosts Northeastern, who is tied for the eighth spot with UConn, who earlier defeated Harvard, 3-1.

Despite all of the losing, the team is in good spirits. It could easily roll up and die, but it hasn't.

For instance, against Princeton, Harvard truly outplayed its hosts for much of the second period. But the Crimson couldn't get the ball past Tiger goalie Lix Hill, and ended up losing the game.

"There's a fine line between playing with a team and winning versus a team," junior goaltender Jessica Milhollin said after the game. "I believe that UConn was the only team this season that we couldn't win against--that really outplayed us."

A good example is the loss to William and Mary. The score was 3-0--which looks like a blowout. Right?

Wrong, In this reporter's honest opinion, the Tribe was pretty pathetic.

And through the first 50 minutes of the game, William and Mary's goalie looked like a skeet shooting target for the Harvard offense.

But whether by bad luck or offensive inadequacies--or, more likely, a mixture of both qualities--the Crimson didn't score.

Then without warning, William and Mary tallied thrice in the last 17:50 to pull out the 3-0 victory.

Harvard has talent. There are good offensive chances, but they always find a way to fizzle. The defense stuffs the opposition, and then lets in multiple goals in a short time span.

The Crimson is probably the only 4-8 team in the country that has a shot at beating Northeastern, but it would require Harvard to suddenly realize its potential that it has yet to find after 12 games.

Logically, the odds are against them. Then again, just because the thinking is conventional doesn't mean that it's right.

In the rest of the Ivy League, Princeton has clinched its first outright League title since 1982...The Tigers pace the competition with a 5-0 league record. Penn is second at 2-1-1, followed by Cornell (3-2), Dartmouth (2-2-1), Harvard, Brown (0-3-1), and Yale (0-4-1)...Columbia doesn't play field hockey.

The Ivy League Player of the Week was Penn's Abby Herbins, whose overtime goal against Brown sunk the Bruins closer to the bottom of the rankings, or The Yale Zone. Cornell forward Cari Hills got the Rookie of the Week for the third time this year and the second week in a row.

Speaking of the Big Red, Cornell has been a wee bit streaky this year. After winning its first three games, it tied Lehigh and then lost its next five. Now Cornell's on a four game victory streak.

The Ivy League Honor Roll includes Harvard captain Megan Colligan, whose adeptness at playing sweeper helped keep Princeton's and B.C's offenses at bay.