Changing With the Seasons

Can a girl from the big city find happiness in the fields? She can if she's Harvard senior Sally Kingsberg and the fields are for playing soccer.

Before Kingsberg arrived at Harvard three years ago, pick-up speedball games on Manhattan cement were the closest she had come to soccer matches. But the shock of switching from concrete to grass was only the first of many adjustments that Kingsberg had made over her Crimson soccer career.

As a freshman, Kingsberg joined the club team because, "Back then, soccer seemed like the perfect sport for me to play at Harvard," the fullback said recently in her Kirkland House suite. "Soccer was a club sport, and it wasn't that competitive and wasn't much of a time commitment."

Green Sweatshirt

Little did she suspect that a short two years later the team would hold triple sessions in the fall and emerge as co-champion of the Eastern crown after competing with top Eastern teams.

Although Kingsberg still has her freshman fear that soccer might not leave time for other things she wants to do, she says, "If someone said to me you can either write a thesis or play soccer, I'd drop my thesis."

This extreme shift in attitude over the years parallels the drastic changes in Kingsberg's position on the field.

In her debut season, Kingsberg earned a starting position at center forward because of her speed, coordination and enthusiasm.

"The majority of us had never played soccer before," the 5-ft., 120 pounder said. "Almost no one could kick or juggle the ball. The only thing I had going for me was I could be athletic."

That year, Kingsberg led the team in scoring, but her days as a forward were numbered as freshman wonder Sue St. Louis strolled onto the field the next fall. The other starting forward slots were filled as Julie Brynteson moved from halfback to wing and newcomers Ellen Hart and Sooky MacGraw secured places on the line.

Rainy Days

Although Kingsberg had difficulty adjusting to not starting in her sophomore year, she says she realized that soccer--by then a level II varsity sport--requires a team effort, and that she had to work on her skills to benefit the squad.

Kingsberg's practice and dedication paid off. Just as she had lost her position sophomore year when new players arrived, she gained a varsity slot her junior year when several key defensemen departed.

With the absense of fullbacks Natalie Roe and Ryan Smith and goalie Irene Kacandes, coach Bob Scalise began shifting players to find replacements. Kingsberg was called in to play against Wellesley College, which was devastated by the Crimson, 9-0. That night Scalise called Kingberg to tell her she had a starting spot in the line-up.

While Kingberg is much smaller than the average defenseman, she makes up for her size with her speed--"I can force players to the outside if I can't make the tackle."--and her ability to fake. Also, Kingsberg has grown more aggressive over the past two years and has improved her kick so that now she feels confident at fullback.

Yet the hardest part of changing from an offensive to a defensive position was mental not physical. Kingsberg says, "Last year I always felt nostalgic when the forward would score and I had to run 100 yards to pat their backs."

Pockets

Kingsberg also had difficulty adapting to the fullback's preventive role. "A forward gets to do something positive by scoring but a fullback can only do something wrong. It's more of a failure to let a goal go through than to miss a shot," she says.

Because of this attitude, the Government major finds it particularly satisfying to keep the opposition scoreless. So far this season, the Crimson has accumulated eight shut outs in 16 games, including the match against the University of Massachusetts in the Easterns when Harvard became the first team in two years to keep the Minutemen off the scoreboard.

Scalise credits Kingsberg's successful transition to fullback to her "good spirits--she doesn't get frustrated when things go wrong but keeps going at it until she improves her game."

Still, Kingsberg's devotion to her defensive position wanes on Wednesdays when the team scrimmages and she insists on playing forward.

"(Assistant Coach) Scott Anderson teases me that I won't be happy unless I get my three goals for the week," Kingsberg says