W. Booters Trip BC in OT, 2-1

After the Harvard's women's soccer team's 2-1 overtime win over crosstown rival Boston College yesterday afternoon at Ohiri Field, Coach Tim Wheaton was entertaining the idea of enlisting senior forward Kristy Gaschler's little sister as the team's official spectator.

"Every time she's at a game, it's like a good-luck charm for Kristy," Wheaton said of the high school sophomore from Littleton, Co. "When I went to watch Kristy play back in high school, her sister was there, and Kristy scored a goal. Today, her sister just happened to be up for the game, and Kristy was the hero."

Heroic Goal

To earn the label "hero," Gaschler took a picture-perfect cross-pass from a teammate deep in Eagle territory 11:20 into overtime, faked right, and then booted the game-winning goal over the outstretched arms of the Boston College goalie.

"It felt great," Gaschler said. "We need to start scoring more, and it was nice to help the team out."

Wheaton was slightly less modest in talking about the goal.

"It was a great play," he said. "Kristy got a nice pass, and made a beautiful play. We need more offensive plays like that."

Indeed. Despite Gaschler's heroics, despite an outstanding Crimson defense and despite the win, Wheaton was disappointed with his team's play.

"I'm happy to win, but it's really the reverse of the game against Brown (a 1-0 loss): We won, but we didn't play real well," he said. "This game exposed some things we need to work on."

In particular, Wheaton was disappointed in his team's offensive play.

"Frantic" on Offense

"We seemed to get frantic every time we touched the ball," Wheaton said. "We gave the ball up way too much.

"We've got to generate more shots, score more goals," he said. "We're riding on our defense."

The team's offensive funk and defensive prowess in the game was evident in the first half, in which both teams battled fiercely only to go into the locker room with goose eggs to show for it.

Then, with 31:35 left in the second half, Boston College struck first blood. After repeated failed Eagle scoring drives, forward Stacy Kemler took a long out-of-bounds throw from a teammate, and properly deposited it in the net, giving her team a 1-0 victory.

Penalty Kick Key

Not to be outdone, Harvard freshman forward Susan DeLellis took advantage of a penalty kick opportunity with 18:10 left in the second half to tie the score, and eventually, force the game into overtime.

Ironically, the 30 minute overtime period was dominated by Boston College's offense. Persistent in their attack, the Eagles made countless scoring strikes in the period, only to be thwarted by Harvard's talented corps of fullbacks or standout goalie Brooke Donahoe, who had 13 saves in the game.

But, nevertheless, the Crimson managed to stage one effective offensive strike in the period, and, fortunately, it was enough.

"We're definitely happy to get the win," Wheaton said. "But when your defense holds them to one goal--a great goal at that--and you just scrape by, you know you need to get better. We will."

HARVARD, 2-1 (OT) at Ohiri Field BC  0  1  0  --  1 Harvard  0  1  1  --  2

G: BC--Kemler; Harvard--S. DeLellis, Gaschler. A: BC--None; Harvard--1. S: BC--5; Harvard--Donahoe(13).