F. Hockey Muzzles the Huskies, 3-2

The Harvard field hockey team entered last night's contest against Northeastern (5-9, 4-1 America East)in the midst of its longest scoring slump since 1997.

No relief seemed in sight after one half, but then the No. 20 Crimson came alive, bursting for three goals in the second half, and some last minute fireworks in front of the Husky net stole a dramatic 3-2 win for Harvard (8-3, 3-1 Ivy) at Parsons Field in Brookline, Mass.

With five minutes left in the game and the score tied 2-2, freshman midfielder Kalen Ingram made a delicate pass through a pair of Northeastern's defenders to spring junior midfielder Maisa Badawy free.

Badawy, who has switched from the left to rightwing prior to the game to bolster a faltering right-side offense, made one of her many daring up the middle to split the Huskies' defense.

Junior back Liz Sarles, who already had a goal and an assist, blocked the Huskies clearing attempt, and Ingram found the loose ball floating dangerously close to the goal.

She fired a quick shot that found the top corner of the net, and the Crimson took the lead for good 3-2.

"I just stepped into the shot," Ingram said. "The shot deflected off one of the Huskies' defenders into the top corner of the goal and the goalie didn't have a chance."

That goal capped a Crimson comeback from an original 1-0 deficit that began 2:40 into the second half.

Sarles tied the game off a penalty corner early in the second half.

However, Harvard's celebration was short lived. Just over a minute after Sarles scored, freshman midfielder Kim Swistak caught the Crimson sleeping in front of its own goal.

On a seemingly harmless play, Swistak charged up the middle of the field and quickly stole the ball from three suddenly flatfooted Crimson defenders.

Quickly behind the defense, Swistak made no mistake and buried a bullet behind a stunned senior goaltender Anya Cowan.

"It seemed as though the defenders had position and I thought we'd put a tackle on the attacker," Cowan said. "Then when we turned it over, I wasn't prepared and she just put a beautiful shot right past me into the far corner."

Swistak's goal sparked a series of furious end to end rushes by both teams that wasn't broken until senior forward Kate Nagle, on an incredible individual effort, bagged her seventh goal of the year.

Confronted by the Huskies adventurous sophomore goalkeeper Kathleen Madaua, Nagle fought hard for control of the ball, and slipped an easy shot past a helpless Madaua lying sprawled on her back.

Once again the Huskies threatened to immediately counter a Crimson strike, but freshman forward Philomena Gambale saved the team.

Coming of the bench just seconds before for Sarles, who was temporarily sidelined with equipment difficulties, Gambale stopped sophomore scoring sensation Kelly Williams, who was making a dangerous run up the middle.

Despite seeing limited action, Gambale was an inspirational spark plug every time she stepped on the field.

"That's what I'm there for, to mix things up," Gambale said. "It's my job to run really fast and trying to mix up the other teams defense, especially when they're tired. It's just a lot of fun."

Having already baled out the Crimson, Gambale then nearly gave it the victory.

Replacing exhausted tri-captain Dominique Kalil at the midpoint of the second half, Gambale used her break-away speed to fight into the clear past a pair of Husky defenders, only to lose the handle before she could pull the trigger.

"I was all alone past the last defender," Gambale said. "But when I took the ball, I only had one hand on the stick and I just lost it."

Tied 2-2 with less than ten minutes remaining in the game, Northeastern made one last offensive charge.

With Huskies swarming all around the goal, Cowan made back-to-back game saving stops from point blank range.

Cowan and the Harvard defense also had to clear out three penalty corners to keep the match even and allow for Ingram's heroics.

"It was a really important win for us to get are confidence back," Cowan said. "Now, we're just taking it one game at a time."

Last night's game was the first of three non-conference match-ups before the Crimson battles its next Ivy opponent, No. 17 Princeton ,October 23.

Currently, Harvard is in a three-way tie for second in the Ivy with Princeton and Cornell, while No. 16 Brown (8-1, 4-0) remains alone atop the standings with a perfect record.

Notes:

While officially Sarles had to leave the game temporarily in the second half with equipment difficulty, actually her hair clip fell out. This created quite a scene on the Crimson bench as the players started swapping clips in order to get Sarles back into the game as quickly as possible.