Field Hockey Upsets #8 Northeastern

Unbelievable.

There are moments in sports that cause hands to tremble and hair to stand up. Spines turn to jelly while eyes gape at inconceivable actions on the field.

Four seconds to go. They scored with four seconds to go.

The image of the ball rolling into the net with the clock on its last gasp will last forever in the minds of the Harvard field hockey team. It was that goal, off a free hit and two immaculate deflections, that clinched both an impossible comeback and Harvard's 2-1 victory over Northeastern--the eighth-ranked team in the nation.

The shot is impossible to describe. No one in attendance confesses to have seen it--not even the players. Junior midfielder Carrie Shumway took the free hit, and with the clock winding down, whacked it towards the goal in hopes of a miracle.

Junior attacker Melanie Allen hit it--or perhaps sophomore attacker Liz Schoyer. Then it ricocheted off of a Husky stick--or maybe not.

However it happened, the ball was set on a collision course with the net. And Northeastern goaltender Jen Ruggiero was nowhere to be seen.

The Crimson's record is now 5-8 overall (2-2 in the Ivies). The Huskies watched as their record fell to 13-4-1.

"It feels like all the ways that we've been wronged this year have been righted," said Allen, who was credited with deflecting in the winning goal. "Everyone played their hearts out for 70 minutes today."

The Crimson fell behind Northeastern midway through the first half, 1-0, on a quick breakaway by Husky Denise Nosca.

Meanwhile, the home team's offense was continuously shut down by the Husky defense, and it seemed like the Crimson would be shut out for the third straight game.

The game clock showed under five minutes remaining in the second half, and the fat lady was pumped up for her aria. Until Schoyer shoved her out of the way and did her own cameo.

The Huskies held the ball in their zone and passed it downfield. The Crimson picked it off and sent it back the other way.

One by one, people began to realize that Schoyer was unchecked. And that the ball was coming right to her.

She tapped it to the side of the charging Ruggiero. And then smacked it into the goal.

Suddenly, a game that the Crimson seemed destined to lose was tied.

"When you hold a team like that [to one goal] it gives you confidence," Harvard Coach Sue Caples said.

And the Harvard defense did hold the Northeastern attack to one goal, even if that grasp seemed to be as tenuous as possible.

Harvard's junior goaltender, Jessica Milhollin, came up with save after save--16 in all--to stop the Husky offense, which furiously assaulted her.

On the day, Northeastern had 17 corner shots, but they had trouble converting them directly into shots. This was partly due to the fact that the Huskies are accustomed to playing on an astroturf field.

Northeastern nevertheless controlled the ball for much of the first half, scoring its goal on a breakaway with 16:20 left to play in the half.

"They definitely had more shots," Schoyer said. "It was good that we didn't have a letdown."

As the second half began, the Crimson still did not have too many threats on the Husky net.

Slowly but surely, that changed.

"We had so much more teamwork," Allen said, "and so much more communication."

Harvard realized that it could, in fact, keep pace with the eight-ranked team in the country. And the attacks on net came. The game clock wound past 15 minutes as the shots began to appear. Crimson players carried the ball menacingly towards the goal. Slapshots whistled past the goal.

Then, when it was least expected, Schoyer came through. It was her first goal of her career in a game filled with surprises.

Northeastern, shocked by the turn of events, went on the offensive. The Huskies blasted some good shots, but Milhollin was more than up to the task. She had faced harder shots than these earlier, and Harvard's goaltender was not about to let anything past her.

The clock ran past 20 seconds as Harvard's sweeper, Megan Colligan, cleared the ball downfield. The game seemed to be fated for overtime.

Then Shumway was somehow fouled. And the rest will be filed among the ranks of the unbelievable.