Andy Mainelli and Ellen O'Neill

It took Andy Mainelli all of one practice four years ago to make up her mind about Ellen O'Neill

"We were getting ready for a two-mile run." Mainelli recalls of the first tali practice of 1981. "There was this one girl stretching and jumping up and down. Then she went out and just blew everyone away.

"I found out it was Ellen," Mainelli jokes, and "I knew I didn't like her already."

. . . . .

What began for Andy Mainelli and Ellen O'Neill with that two mile time trial four years ago comes to a close today with one final run for a victory.

The senior co-captains of the Harvard field hockey team, Mainelli and O'Neill this afternoon will finish up a pair of careers that rank among the most distinguished in Crimson field hockey history.

But they'll also close out careers that began amidst a heap of hopes and that have ended amidst a bevy of broken dreams.

Considered by many one of the finest teams in Harvard field hockey history, the Crimson has tumbled to 5-9 overall and to next to last place in the Ivy League this season. Only Yale at 2:30 p.m. today on Soliders Field remains on the 1984 schedule.

Nothing else sets Mainelli and O'Neill apart from other equally talented captains of the past more than the fact that they've headed one of the most disappointing teams in the club's 12-year history.

And that hurts no one more than the two very' stint captains.

Who, by the way, have been the best of friends ever since that fall day of 1981 and roommates ever since the fall of 1982.

. . . . .

The fall of 1982 was also the season both Mainelli and O'Neill burst on to the scene as stickwomen to be taken seriously.

O'Neill had started all but one game the year before, and Mainelli had seen spot duty, but it was their sophomore campaign of 1982 that saw them both develop into first-rate players.

After a preseason with the rest of the squad in Ireland, the Winthrop House residents blossomed, and became integral parts of an 11-2-3 Harvard club that finished just one and a half games behind Ivy League champion Princeton and that finally put Cambridge on the field hockey map.

"We really came into our own as a team that year," says Mainelli, a South Windsor, Conn, native, "and we gained some respect."

A year ago, without the big names of the 11-2-3 season, Harvard dropped to 8-6-1 but moved to within one-half game of the league crown.

And few were more responsible for the continued success than Mainelli and O'Neill, both former high school field hockey, basketball and tennis standouts.

Mainelli, who began her Harvard field hockey career as a right wing but now spends her time on the inside attack, garnered All-Ivy honors on the way to becoming the club's leading scorer.

"In terms of games, we didn't win as many as the year before," says the Social Studies concentrator. "But I never felt like we tried so hard. I think we proved that even without those big names [of 1982] we could still play."

And from her midfield position, the extremely talented O'Neill gained not only All-Ivy honors but also honorable mention. All-American honors, as well.

What's more, as a junior O'Neill also served as captain. "I didn't expect to have to do it," says the Philadelphia native, who was elected to the position at season's start after the team's captain took the year off because of an injury.

"I realized I had a lot of learning to do quickly," she adds.

The success of last year's squad was, at least in part, a result of O'Neill's leadership, Harvard Coach Edie Mabrey says.

After that season, O'Neill says the "really felt like we were part of something that was still on the way up."

And that's what makes the trials of this year that much harder.

With O'Neill back as captain, with the high-scoring Mainelli now a captain, too, and with five other talented seniors still in town, both captains admit "we were expecting big things."

"I don't think we were over-confident," says Mainelli, who is the club's leading scorer with just four goals. "I think instead we had a feeling that things would just flow."

Almost from day one, though, things have gone away.

"I don't know what happened," says O'Neill. "Maybe we relied too much on experience. But I can tell you this: we never, ever felt like losers. We never went to practice with our heads down.

"I think that's because we know we've done so much since we've been here."

Regardless of their past accomplishments, both admit the losing season has affected them.

"I always wonder haven't I done a good job?" says Mainelli. "Did I not show enough leadership?"

Team members dismiss those thoughts, pointing out that if not for the constant prodding of Mainelli and O'Neill things might have fallen even farther apart.

Both Mainelli and O'Neill admit they won't dwell on the fact that this just wasn't their year.

"What we'll remember is that we were good and that we had fun," says O'Neill, who like Mainelli is also a standout on Harvard's talented lacrosse team.

And Mainelli says a win this afternoon against Yale on Soldiers Field could change a lot of things.

"It's a big one for us," Mainelli says for everyone even remotely connected with Harvard field hockey.

"It could make up for a lot of things."