Shumway Leads Field Hockey

Where there's a will, there's a Shumway.

That's Carrie Shumway, the junior converted midfielder of the Harvard field hockey team. And it was her will that gave the Crimson a 1-0 win over the Yale Bulldogs Saturday at Cumnock Field.

With 8:23 left to go in the first half, Shumway ripped a shot past the Yale goaltender for the only goal in the game.

"It was a deflection off of the [defender]," Shumway said. "It just happened to go in."

It was a goal that the Crimson (2-1 Ivy, 4-6 overall) desperately needed. The team had lost three games in a row by a combined score of 12-4, and a loss to Yale wouldn't help things a bit.

Harvard was also playing without junior attacker Maureen O'Brien, who aggravated a sprained ankle in Tuesday's 3-0 loss to William and Mary.

So to add back some offensive punch, Harvard Coach Sue Caples moved Shumway from the defense up to midfield.

It obviously worked.

"It was a good game considering that we reworked things," captain Megan Colligan (sweeper) said. "Luckily we pulled off this win--this change is good, but is tough [to get used to]."

As the Harvard defense was getting used to the new scheme, there were breakdowns, and so the Yale offense had plenty of good chances to score throughout the game.

But the Crimson's goaltender, junior Jessica Milhollin, came up with 15 saves to preserve the shutout.

"It just can't happen," Milhollin said. "Their offense had too many shots on goal. The new defense took a little getting used to."

In contrast, Harvard only had six shots on goal. Of course, one of them went in.

Shumway held control of the ball near the Eli goal and drove towards the net, where she drew a foul from the Yale defense.

On the ensuing corner shot, sophomore midfielder Daphne Clark took a blast at the net that was blocked by a defender.

Shumway picked up the loose ball and quickly deposited it into the net.

"It helps that [Shumway] was in the midfield," freshman attacker Amy DiMarzio said. "She definitely helped getting the ball up the line."

The score remained the same until halftime, without any really major scoring threats by either team.

"The first half went fairly well," Caples said. "We really put a lot of pressure on them."

Getting a lead, however, is one thing. Holding on to it is something completely different.

Throughout the second half, the Elis were hell-bent on putting the ball between the posts.

And with each attack the Bulldogs came closer and closer to doing that.

"In the second half we made a few mistakes," Caples said. "We need to finish the plays off... We sat back and tried to protect the lead."

The climax of Yale's offense came with only six minutes left in the game.

Yale got a corner, and tried to shove the ball past Milhollin. Somehow, however, it got stuck under the Harvard goaltender, which meant that the Elis got to take a penalty stroke.

So the referee put the ball at essentially point-blank range from Milhollin, and gave a chosen Bulldog one shot to tie the game.

The attacker tried to lift it towards the left corner. Milhollin dove and could not reach it.

In anticipation of the tie, the Yale bench began to put its hands up in glee. Until the ball began to fall again, and each Eli noticed that it would fall harmlessly behind the goal.

It seemed that someone upstairs was smiling on the Crimson.

"It feels good to beat Yale," a happy Milhollin said.

Sure, the game was extremely close. But hey, a win is a win.

"We still have a lot to work on," DiMarzio said. "[But] it's a lift for us, definitely." Harvard  1 Yale  0