Women Booters Begin Final Trek Towards Title

The opening round of the 1984 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women's soccer tournament comes to Cambridge today and the Harvard squad better be ready.

"You can't have an off day--you can't even afford to have an off 10 minutes," says Harvard's all-time leading scorer, senior Kelly Landry, of the post-season action that gets underway today across the country.

So even though the Cantabs are slight favorites over this afternoon's first-round opponent, the University of Vermont, they'll need a full 90-minute performance or else they'll be turning their attention towards next year.

The game is set for 1:30 p.m. on Ohiri Field. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for students with a Harvard ID.

This game will show the maturity that the season has given us," predicts freshman goalie Tracee Whitley.

Harvard wrapped up the regular season with a 2-1 victory over Yale Tuesday, finishing 13-2-1 overall and 4-1 in the Ivies.

Pretty impressive numbers, and good enough for NCAA officials to award the Cantabs the fifth seed in the national tournament.

The Catamounts (11-2-1) are ranked 12th, but battled the Crimson to a scoreless tie when the two squads last met on September 22.

"Vermont is tough, and they're capable of beating good teams," says Harvard Coach Bob Scalise.

UVM has proved it's at least capable of tying good teams, but today's contest could be a whole different story.

The Crimson had some scoring problems early in the year, and Vermont intensified this dilemma by double-teaming Landry.

But after winning 10 of its last 11 games, including seven by shutouts, Harvard has developed a confident, cohesive style of play.

"We're more used to each other now," says Whitley. "We've come together more as a team."

Which means that even if the Catamounts try that defensive ploy on Landry again, the Crimson will have alternate routes to the goal.

"We can use Kelly as a decoy and exploit our other scoring possibilities," explains Scalise. Freshman Karin Pinezich and junior Ann Baker have been potent on offense lately, and Vermont just doesn't have enough players to double-team everyone.

The booters are hoping, however, that today's contest is not as defense-oriented as the squads' last encounter.

"We're hoping to have the game become an end-to-end kind of game," Scalise says. "We'd like a fast-tempo, high-paced game."

Catamount Coach John Carter agrees, noting that his team should have been more aggressive last time. "Harvard had a slight edge in play earlier in the year, but we will attempt to gear it up a little more."

The "slight edge" Carter referred to was a 25-5 Crimson lead in shots-on-goal and a 21-2 margin in corner kicks.

But numerical leads don't win ball games, unless the numbers in question are the final scores.

"We're confident but not overconfident," says Crimson freshman Julie Sasner, who will be participating in her first national tournament. "It's so exciting just to play on this caliber of team."

The squad's caliber could well be the highest in the nine-year history of the Harvard program.

Through 16 games, Whitley has allowed only six goals. The previous record was nine in 14 games (1978). And Harvard's 10 shutouts on the season shatter the old mark of eight (1980).

Crimson Co-Captain Jennifer Greeley spears the midfield, while senior Inga Larson heads an outstanding defense.

What this all adds up to is a Harvard squad that has work ahead of it, but good reason to be confident. "Player for player we have a better team than Vermont," says Landry.

If the Crimson survives today's game, and number-four seed University of Massachusetts knocks off 13th-ranked Boston College. Harvard will travel to Minuteman territory for next weekend's quarterfinals.

And after that, the path leads south to the NCAA Final Four, to be held November 17 and 18 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Scalise, for one, is ready to start the journey. "Vermont is very capable, but if we can play well...Good things happen when we play well!"