Booters Blossom, Strip Tigers, 4-0

"Sucessful" is one of those words people are always trying to qualify. You can be morally or physically successful; you can be relatively or moderately successful; and you can be successful according to either societal or personal standards.

Yet, no matter how you choose to define "successful," the word applies to the Harvard women's soccer team, which raised its season record to a pristine 10-0 by condemning Princeton, 4-0, Saturday at Soldiers Field.

The opening kickoff set the tone for the match, as heavenly Crimson center forward Sue St. Louis worked the ball down to midfield before passing off to left winger Julie Brynteson. Barely breaking stride to receive the shot, Brynteson brought the ball all the way into the penalty box before a Tiger finally touched the ball and broke up the threat.

Though the Crimson failed to score on the opening drive, Harvard showed early how it would later dominate the game by thinking up complicated plays in split seconds and using its skills and hustle to execute them.

Soon after the opening exchange, Brynteson got the ball again--this time crossing it to teammate Cat Ferrante, who scratched and clawed her way to the middle of the field in front of the goal. From there Ferrante simply turned and shot, committing "sororicide" on the Tiger goalie and placing Harvard on the scoreboard with 2:20 gone.

The Tigers once again got a lesson in the Law of the Jungle when the duo of Ferrante and St. Louis proved to be fitter than the Princeton defense. On a quick counter attack play, Ferrante fed a 25-ft. pass to St. Louis, who only took time to fake her way past a defenseman before bulleting the ball into the net at 6:37.

"Princeton didn't move that fast," Harvard fullback Sally Kingsberg said yesterday. "They were stopping too much and looking around; they were also just tapping the ball."

Midway through the first half, it seemed that someone had jinxed the Crimson as both Gia Johnson and St. Louis received blows from Princeton players. Johnson took a knee to the mouth which pushed back one tooth and cut a gash on the inside of her lip that required seven stitches. Minutes later, a Princton defensman caught St. Louis' leg when both brought their knees up to meet a waist-high bouncer, forcing the Crimson star to the sidelines with a bruised knee. Both players are expected to play on Tuesday against Massachusetts.

Jeanne Piersiak took over for Johnson, while Cecile Scoon was called in to replace St. Louis. Although she's had a lot of playing time, Scoon said she was "scared" to go into the game without the comfort of knowing that St. Louis was on the bench, backing her up.

But if Scoon really was frightened, it didn't show as she proceeded to reduce three Tigers to mere pussy cats in one play.

The amazingly consistent Kingsberg punted the ball to Scoon, who was waiting next to the deepest Princeton fullback. As Scoon scooted towards right hand corner of the field to get a better angled shot, three Tiger defensemen charged her. Without cutting down on her exceptional speed, Scoon pulled off both a step-over fake and a body fake, which confused the defense and prevented it from stopping her scoring shot at 21:30.

Scoon later added an assist to her goal when she passed off to Brynteson, who redirected the ball to just left of the right post at 7:48 in the second half.

Harvard continued to move the ball well and play smart soccer, both on offense and defense, for the rest of the game.

"Everyone was cohesive," Scoon said. "In biological terms, we were functioning as an organism."