UMass Fells Field Hockey

After jumping out to a 5-1 start--its best start in nine seasons--the No. 18 Harvard field hockey team stumbled yesterday in Amherst, blowing a 2-0 second-half lead and dropping a 3-2 decision to UMass.

UMass senior Chrissy Millbauer scored twice, including the game-winner on a rebound off a penalty corner with 13:19 remaining in the second half, to snap a four-game losing streak for UMass (3-5).

Tri-captain Anya Cowan, who won Ivy League Player of the Week honors Tuesday for making 23 saves in games against No. 1 UConn and Yale, made just one save, taking her second loss of the season.

"I think it was mainly mental mistakes," junior midfielder Maisa Badawy said. "The sad thing is, we looked amazing in the first half. [UMass] had no shots, no corners. I don't even think Anya had to touch the ball, our backs did such a great job of keeping the forwards from receiving passes."

The Crimson (5-2, 2-0 Ivy), which had risen a spot in Tuesday's National Field Hockey Coaches' Association poll, led by 2-0 as late as 6:41 into the second, on the strength of goals by top strikers Dominique Kalil and Kate Nagle, each of whom notched her fifth of the season.

But Harvard, which had stifled its opposition of late, allowing just three goals in its last three games, including a 2-0 shutout at Yale last Saturday, couldn't make a lead stand up for the first time this year. Harvard's only previous loss came at UConn Sept. 22, a game which the Huskies led from start to finish.

Kalil opened the scoring with 6:02 left in the first, stuffing in the rebound of a Harvard shot. That goal, plus her assist in the second half, gave her 16 points on the season, good for third-best in the Ivy.

Nagle, who extended her scoring streak to five consecutive games, upped the Crimson's lead to 2-0 at 34:03 of the second, when she took a pass from Kalil and beat UMass keeper Michelle Crooks to the far post of the cage.

On a typical day, that would have been more than enough offense for the Crimson, which has allowed more than two goals only once this season, in a 5-4 overtime win over then-No. 14 UNH Sept. 17.

The Harvard backfield has been stellar. Last Saturday against Yale, sophomore Hilary Walton led a stifling defense, blanking her twin sister Amanda, who leads the Ivy in scoring with 10 goals. And Cowan allows just 1.64 goals per game and boasts a .857 save percentage, which is tops among all Ivy keepers.

But the Crimson gave away its first scoring opportunity with 6:41 remaining in the second half, when a shot off a UMass penalty corner hit Walton in the foot, resulting in an automatic penalty stroke, which Millbauer converted.

"Usually we bounce back from giving up goals," Badawy said. "But we just let them start receiving the ball, and we weren't very organized."

UMass sophomore sweeper Anke Bruemmer, the UMass big hitter on corners, drove home a straight shot with 20:35 remaining in the second to tie the score at 2-2, before Millbauer tallied the eventual game-winner, once more on a rebound generated by a corner attempt. Millbauer was able to find a hole in the crowded circle and beat Cowan after picking up the leftovers of a shot by Bruemmer.

In its 5-4 UNH win, the Crimson surrendered all four goals in penalty corner situations, two to Kelly Stowe, a hard-hitting sweeper like Bruemmer.

"We have a pretty good corner defense," Badawy said. "At Yale, our corner defense was on. We gave up a couple of opportunities in a row, but we were just on. Today we had different things thrown at us and it's our own fault for not adjusting sooner."

The Minutewomen's 3-5 record is deceptive, as all five of their losses have come against teams ranked in the Top 12, including No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Maryland. UMass Coach Patty Shea often front-loads her schedule against tough ACC programs, and has taken her club to the NCAA Tournament in each of her first two years at the helm.

"Everything happens for a reason," Badawy said. "It's better that this loss came now, than before we got into the heat of the Ivies. We're learning that we can't stand around, that we have to compete for 70 minutes."

Harvard returns to league play on Saturday, hosting Penn. The Quakers (1-4, 0-2) have lost three straight, including Ivy decisions to Dartmouth and to Cornell in double-overtime.