Tearing Up Tierra Del Fuego

They say that the Southern Hemisphere is a funny kind of place. It's summer there when it's winter here; everything is topsy-turvy.

So the Harvard women's soccer team should have known what to expect when it headed South to compete in the Washington Area Girls Soccer Tournament.

Okay, so D.C. isn't quite Tierra Del Fuego, but it's close enough.

Because before the Crimson had played two full minutes south of the Mason-Dixon line, the world had, in fact, turned upside down.

North Carolina State had scored--twice.

Two goals in two minutes.

All season, through 630 previous minutes, Harvard had given up two goals.

Clearly, something was amiss--and, as the tournament unfolded, getting amisser by the minute.

After an eventual 3-0 loss to State, the booters played Maryland to a scoreless draw and dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions to William & Mary and George Mason.

In just 27 hours, the Crimson's record plummeted from 3-1-2 to 3-4-3. And while the tourney results theoretically won't count toward the NCAA post-season tournament, they won't exactly be ignored by the coaches who do the balloting.

Three losses and one tie don't sound too impressive--until you start to take some other factors into consideration.

Entering the weekend, only the Terrapins (9-4) and the Wolfpack (6-3-2) weren't among the national top 20. The Tribe (5-1-2) was ranked seventh and the Lady Patriots (9-0-1) first.

Yup, first.

And while Mason edged the Crimson by one, it lost to Boston College, 2-0. Harvard tied the Eagles, 1-1, last week.

That contest accounted for one of the ties that the Crimson brought into the tournament. The other incoming draw adds an equally interesting dimension to the WAGS results.

You see, Friday evening Harvard and Cornell battled to a 0-0 tie, complete with 30 minutes of overtime.

By the time the squad wound its way from Ithaca to Syracuse to Newark to Washington to Virginia, it was nearly 2 a.m.

Nine hours later the Crimson took the field against N.C. State.

Two minutes later it wished it hadn't.

Four games later the weariness--surprise, surprise--hadn't abated.

"I think we were tired," Harvard Coach Bob Scalise said after the tournament. "We had a couple of lapses, they [the opponents] wouldn't score again, but by then they'd have the one they needed to win the game."

"We got behind the eight-ball when we went to Cornell," Co-Captain Ann Baker said.

Nonetheless, Baker stressed that the long trip couldn't be held as a scapegoat. "We played well enough to win those games and couldn't convert," she said, "and it wasn't always because we didn't have the energy."

Whether it was a lack of offense, lack of defense, or simply a lack of sleep, the Crimson brought a lack of something into the tournament.

But it left with something, too. Because after waking up against N.C. State, Harvard stayed right with four of the country's top squads. Take away those two early goals and you've got a tie and three one-goal almost-wins.

And while soccer isn't horseshoes by a long shot, those "almosts" aren't totally meaningless.

"This made us realize how good we were, even though we didn't win," forward Electa Sevier said. "I always wondered how good George Mason was and now we know--I thought we were as good as they were."

The WAGS tournament took place at Fort Belvoir, Va., an army base. The barracks were stationed a couple of blocks behind the field area. A sign was posted on one of the fences there, reading, "This region designated a covered area--no saluting required."

By the time the weekend ended, it was obvious that the provision about saluting certainly extended to Harvard.

George Mason might hold the higher rank, but you won't be finding the Crimson kow-towing to the Lady Patriots.

"If it was a one-day deal, we could beat anyone," midfielder Karen Garibaldi said, "and when we get to the NCAAs, we'll know we can beat anyone."

So perhaps it's all right that everything in the South is upside down.

Down there, that 0-3-1 record just might translate into a winning percentage.