W. Soccer Not Looking Past Central Conn. St.

For the Harvard women's soccer team, the new season begins tomorrow and with it comes a chance at redemption.

Harvard (11-4-1, 6-1-0 Ivy) will face Central Connecticut State (10-7-1) at Ohiri Field tomorrow in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

"Central [Connecticut State] is a team that has been there before," said Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton. "They're a good team; we're not looking past them at all."

Harvard, ranked No. 12 nationally during the preseason, has played well throughout the regular season, but there is the sense of unfulfilled potential about the team.

The Crimson beat all the teams it needed to beat, but lost to all four of its ranked opponents--each time ending the game with the feeling that it did not quite leave it all out on the field. That unfulfilled potential, in addition to a bitter loss to Dartmouth that cost the seniors their fourth straight Ivy League title, has Harvard gunning for revenge.

"I don't think we proved what we could do in the regular season, and NCAAs is kind of like another season for us," co-captain Emily Stouffer said. "We're just going try and go out there and show people that we really are the team to watch out for."

"After Dartmouth we kind of looked at our season and realized that we haven't been doing what we set out to do," said junior goalkeeper Anne Browning. "Since Brown it's been a new leaf."

The Crimson certainly has the weapons, and more importantly, the experience to make the most of this "second season." This is Harvard's third consecutive NCAA appearance and its fourth in the past five years.

"We have a good core of players who know what it's like and won't rattle," said senior goalkeeper Meredith Bagel. "Our experience will help us a lot there."

One of the things that experience teaches, is that the cliche "one game at a time" might sound hackneyed, but it is true.

"We've been in NCAAs before, we know what it means, we know how excited Central Connecticut is," Stauffer said. "We can't take them lightly; we have everything to prove."

The danger is that Harvard might be tempted to look past Central Connecticut State, for a win tomorrow would mean a rematch of the Crimson's earlier 1-0 loss to nationally-ranked Hartford. A win over Hartford could mean a rematch against No. 4 UConn. Harvard also lost to UConn in the regular season, 2-0, and left the game feeling it could have won.

However, while exacting revenge on Hartford and UConn is a tempting thought, a loss tomorrow means the Crimson packs it up and goes home.

"This is a one-game-at-a-time deal," Wheaton said. "Central Connecticut has had a good year; they've won a lot of games this year. Their schedule is not as tough as some of the teams in the Tournament, but they've done well when they've played tough teams."

Central Connecticut State Coach Bill Coleman, the NEC 1997 Coach of the Year, has his squad playing a very physical style similar to Brown's. The Lady Blue Devils are known for being aggressive to the ball. However, their wing defenders should be susceptible to the Crimson's talent-laden forwards.

Harvard boasts extensive technical ability in its outside players, who can beat almost any defender in the league one-on-one. The Crimson will look for big games from Ashley Berman, Beth Zotter, Meredith Stewart, Stauffer, Naomi Miller, Colleen Moore and Gina Foster.

To Harvard's backs will fall the task of containing Central Connecticut State's well-stocked stable of international players. The chief threat is Scottish forward Jane McFarlane.

McFarlane is last year's NEC Newcomer and Player of the Year, was named the NEC Tournament MVP and was the seventh-leading goal scorer in the country after finishing the 1997 season with 23 goals.

Behind McFarlane on defense are captains Julie Twaddle of Newcastle, England and Jackie Hadden of Sydney, Australia, each with six goals this year. Between the posts is junior goalkeeper Sarah Reginio who earned a 2.70 goals against average in the 1998 season.

Led by these imports, the Blue Devils have amassed a 10-7-1 record this season, but they have dropped games to Yale and B.C., both teams Harvard defeated in the regular season.

However, both games were close matches, and Central Connecticut State ended up out shooting Yale 19-5, although they lost the contest by a score of 1-0.

Of course Stauffer knows that regular-season records aren't always the best indicators of postseason play.

"They probably look at us, and think we're weak and that they're going to come in and upset a better team," Stauffer said. "But I think we just need to go out there and seize the day. I think we feel like we have another great chance to prove ourselves."