No. 20 F. Hockey Falls to No. 13 Terriers

Facing a streaking B.U. team, the Harvard field hockey team suffered its first home loss of the season on Saturday, falling to the No. 13 Terriers, 2-0, at Jordan Field on Saturday in front of a crowd of 250.

Terrier midfielder Tina McDavitt netted her fourth goal of the season on a penalty corner with 1:18 left in the first half to put B.U. (13-2) up for good for its sixth-straight win.

No. 20 Harvard (8-4, 3-1 Ivy) found itself packed into its own defensive end against one of the best offenses in the nation for much of the early part of the first half. The Terriers, the top team in the America East Conference, have outscored their opponents 60-22 this year, and have outshot their opponents 196-123.

"B.U. is a very fundamentally sound team, they do a lot of the small things right," junior forward Kate Nagle said. "We did a lot of things well all over the field, but I guess we could have done them better."

McDavitt lead the way for the Terriers early on, registering a couple of hard shots that Cowan kicked wide.

It was McDavitt, however, who also missed a penalty shot with 10:50 left in the half that could have put the Terriers up early.

After a foul in front of the Crimson cage, McDavitt stepped up to the penalty spot to face Cowan, who carried a .820 save percentage into the Saturday's game.

McDavitt shot for the left corner, but missed the target by inches. Cowan also lunged to the left, however, and would have made the diving save had the ball been on net.

With about 10 minutes to go in the half, and with a lull in the Terrier offense, the Crimson managed to grab the momentum and mounted a concerted attack on the B.U. net. Nagle got two strong shots off in the 28th minute, but both rolled wide of the Terrier cage.

"They were tough shots to miss, because you only get so many good looks in a game," she said.

McDavitt's goal came as the two teams seemed to be looking forward to a halftime rest.

On a set play off of a short corner, Terrier midfielder Jessica Alcorta played the ball in to senior midfielder Jaclyn Mele. Mele set the ball for McDavitt, who moved in on net and slid the ball past Cowan on the right side of the net.

The assist was Mele's 11th assist of the season, the best in the America East.

After halftime, the Crimson came out looking to strike back quickly, and continually worked the right side of the midfield early.

Junior Maisa Badawy, who made a move from the left to the right side of the midfield in last week's Northeastern game, made a number of penetrating runs from her new position into the Crimson's offensive third.

Once there, however, Badawy found few Harvard teammates.

Small mistakes that continually led to turnovers plagued the Crimson throughout the second half.

Whether on inbound passes or retstarts during play, the Crimson seemed out of joint moving in on goal. The Crimson was out-shot 16-6 and earned only two penalty corners while the Terriers managed ten.

"They had a very fast transition," senior back Katie Schoolwerth said. "We play the same system as they do, with some minor changes, but they were so fast out of the back that we were caught chasing a lot of the time, especially in the midfield."

The Crimson's continued strong play in the back was one of the highlights for the team. B.U. has averaged four goals a game this season and features a number of offensive threats, including four of the top six scorers in the America East. Of those four, only Mele got a point in Saturday's contest.

The Terrier's second goal came at 10:55, when sophomore midfielder Kerry Carney converted after Cowan made a diving kick save on a B.U. penalty corner. The goal was Carney's first of her career.

The Crimson's loss on Saturday was the first game of an important five-game homestand at Jordan Field.

Harvard is in a three-way tie for second in the Ivy League with Princeton and Cornell. The Crimson faces Princeton this weekend and Dartmouth next weekend, two games crucial to capturing the Ivy League crown.

Princeton has won the last five Ivy League titles.

Harvard next faces Boston College (7-7) on Wednesday, at 3:30 p.m. on Jordan Field.

In recent action, B.C. was outshot by No. 1 University of Connecticut, 21-0, en route to a 5-0 loss last Wednesday.