Wave of Momentum Sweeps Tigers Past Women's Soccer

PRINCETON, N.J.--The Big "Mo."

Saturday's women's soccer game pitting Harvard against Princeton here at Lourie-Love Field was a case study in the importance of one of George Bush's favorite, if not self-descriptive, words these days: momentum.

Simply put, Princeton, coming into the game with three wins in its previous five contests, had it. And Harvard, entering the game winless in its previous five contests, didn't. Riding that proverbial wave, the Tigers pasted the Crimson, 2-1.

"They were very intense and fired-up," Harvard junior backer Meg Berte said. "They came in with a lot of confidence and they were really tough. It's not necessarily that we played that poorly, but that they played really well."

The Tigers' momentum was manifest from the very start when, after greeting each other with whoops, hollers and high-fives during the pre-game introduction, they went about persistently attacking the resolute Crimson defense. "They came out and really took it to us in the first half," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "They were fired up, and we were a little flat. That really hurt us."

The Tigers' first-half momentum was translated into a goal with 14:16 left in the half. Forward Sue Reece took a pass from fellow forward Tiffany Flik and booted the ball past Harvard goalie Brooke Donahoe to give Princeton a 1-0 lead.

This first-half momentum continued well into the second half for the Tigers, as they continued to keep the Crimson on the run. With 19:07 left in the half, Princeton halfback Rebecca Goodwin received an open-field pass from halfback Jessica Mosblech to find nothing but 40 yards of grass and Donahoe between her and the net. Dribbling nearer the goal, Donahoe challenged Goodwin, who promptly booted the Tigers' second goal of the day passed the goalie.

Ironically, the goal, while giving Princeton a comfortable 2-0 lead, served to transfer the "Big Mo" to Harvard. From there on out, the Crimson cast aside its inhibitions and went after Princeton with reckless abandon.

"After that goal, we seemed to change," Wheaton said. "It's like the women felt they had nothing to lose if they went all out, and they played a lot better--like we should be playing."

With 9:28 left, this new-found Crimson aggression was rewarded. Libby Eynon, Harvard's stand-out sophomore forward, took a pass from freshman forward Susan DeLellis on the left side of the goal and scored to narrow Princeton's lead to one.

But, despite continued aggressive play, the Crimson fell short in the end, unable to penetrate the Tiger defense. For Princeton, the win upped its record to 5-6 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy League and continued its end-of-the-season run. "From our perspective, it was a great game," Princeton Coach Moira Buckley said. "We played a little shaky near the end, but we were real aggressive during the rest of the game. Beating Harvard is a great boost to our team."

For Harvard, on the other hand, the loss lowered its record to 4-7-2 and 2-3-1 in the Ivy League and continued its late-season trend of losing close, highly contested games. In fact, if the Crimson had scored just eight more goals at different moments in the last six games, it would be 7-4-0 and in contention for the Ivy title.

"Obviously, this is another tough loss in what has been a very tough season," Wheaton said. "Hopefully, we can step up and finish the season well."

Co-Captain Sharon Olken expressed similar hope. "Right now we're a little demoralized," she said. "But if we could beat Providence [on Wednesday at Providence] and Dartmouth [on Saturday at Ohiri Field], we could end this season in a memorable way."

PRINCETON, 2-1 at Lourie-Love Field Harvard  0  1  --  1 Princeton  1  1  --  2

G: Harvard--Eynon (1); Princeton--Reece (1), Goodwin (1). A: Harvard--S. DeLellis (1); Princeton--Flik (1), Mosblech (1). S: Harvard--Donahoe (7); Princeton--Douglas (3).