Stickwomen Stage Comeback

The Brown field hockey team was only five minutes away from earning a share of the Ivy League championship Saturday at Soldiers Field.

Players on the Bruin bench and Brown supporters in the stands were on their feet. Spirits were understandably high. Brown, leading 10, only needed to finish off a Harvard team that hadn't won a game in 10 straight outings, and hadn't scored a goal in two weeks.

But just as the Bruin players were ready to storm the field and celebrate their first Ivy title since 1984, Harvard forward Sharon Landau caught a rebound of a Leelee Groome penalty corner shot and smashed the ball past Brown goalie Jennifer Jacobs to tie the game, 1-1.

In overtime, Landau and Groome again teamed up, with Landau knocking a five-ft. shot off a Groome pass past Jacobs and into the net for a 2-1 Harvard victory.

"The tying goal never should have happened," Brown Coach Wendy Anderson said. "We were out of position. You get a little mental lapse like that and it hurts you. After the goal, Harvard got all fired up. It's easy. Harvard had nothing to lose and we had everything to lose."

By virtue of its 4-1 victory over Cornell Saturday, Pennsylvania (5-1 Ivy) captured its second straight Ivy League title. Brown (4-2 Ivy) is the runner-up.

Harvard (3-7-3 overall, 1-2-2 Ivy) snagged its first Ivy victory Saturday, and matched last year's overall win total. And the Crimson, out of the Ivy title race early in the season, played the role of spoiler to the hilt.

"It feels a little bad," Harvard Co-Captain Jenny Pyle said. "I know one of the players on the Brown team. We played together in high school. But that's the way it is. This game just proves we should have won the Ivy League this year."

Neither team could muster much of an attack, until Brown forward Kathryn Wilder smashed the rebound of a corner shot under the legs of Harvard goalie Denise Katsias for a 1-0 Bruin lead with 30 minutes left in the game.

Crimson forward Char Joslin led some deep drives into Brown territory in the middle of the second half, and set up a handful of Harvard penalty corners. But the Crimson couldn't convert them into goals.

With four-and-a-half minutes left in regulation, the Crimson set up for a penalty corner. The corner pass came out to Groome, who rocketed a shot toward the net. Landau, charging from the left, trapped the ball on her stick and sent it flying past the Brown goalie.

Landau leads the team in scoring with seven goals--five more than last year's team co-leaders.

"Sharon's got a good stick, and she hustles," Pyle said. "She's got a great sense of the game."

With just over a minute left in overtime, Groome--who hasn't played much this season and came in off the bench Saturday--smashed a shot toward the Brown goal. Landau was there again, and swiped the ball off the Bruin goalie's pads and into the net for the victory.

"Leelee and I haven't played a lot together during the season," Landau said. "It's good we got the chance."