Booters Bite Bulldogs, 3-0; Preserve Ivy Title Hopes

The Harvard women's soccer team kept its Ivy hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over Yale in New Haven, Conn. yesterday.

Rebounding from a frustrating 3-0 league loss to Princeton Saturday, the booters exploded, scoring a season-high three times.

An inability to score goals has plagued the Crimson (now 5-7-3 overall, 2-1-1 Ivy) all year--prior to yesterday's contest, the squad had amassed a total of just nine goals. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had tallied just seven times.

That tiny two-goal differential would seem to put Yale (now 2-10, 0-4-0) and Harvard in the same boat.

In reality, not even Noah's Ark could save the drowning Bulldogs at this point--and the goal-hungry Crimson romped all over the hapless hosts to move into a tie for third place in the Ivies.

Yale goalie Nancy Harthun, playing with a separated shoulder, stayed true to her goals-against-average (3.09) in the face of Harvard's rejuvenated offense.

The Crimson (who took 10 corners on the afternoon) scored their fifth corner-kick goal of the season at the 24:50 mark, when Karin Pinezich headed a Karen Garibaldi floater past Harthun for a 1-0 Harvard lead.

Julie Sasner chipped in with an unassisted tally just two minutes into the second half, booting a drive into the upper right corner of the net.

The Crimson's final goal came on a boneheaded Bulldog play later in the stanza. With a crowd milling in front of the net, a Blue defender cleverly tried to slip the ball to Harthun--allowing forward Electa Sevier to intercept the pass and pop it in for goal number three.

"One of our fullbacks was three feet in front of the goalie," Yale's Liz Swisher explained. "She was just trying to shield the ball, and the goalie couldn't see--it was sort of a mistake."

As a result of the victory, the Crimson heads into the weekend with a chance to challenge for the Ivy title.

All six Ivy squads have just one league contest remaining. And while lowly Yale and Dartmouth (each winless in Ivy competition) squawk it out Saturday for fifth and sixth place, two titanic contests will be waged to determine whether the league crown will remain in Providence, R.I., for the fourth consecutive year.

While Harvard travels to Brown (3-0-1), second-place Princeton (2-0-2) and Cornell (tied with the Crimson at 2-1-1) will also be squaring off in the Garden State.

If the Bruins knock off the Cantabs, they'll earn sole possession of the title. But if Harvard prevails, it could move into a three-way tie for first with Brown and Cornell--provided that the Big Red disposes of the Tigers.