Field Hockey Prepares for ECACs

On an emotional high after downing No.15 Brown, the Ivy champion, the Harvard field hockey team heads into tomorrow's ECAC Championships looking for a little revenge.

Harvard (11-6, 4-3 Ivy) is the No. 2 seed and will be looking for a rematch against the tournament's top seed, No.20 Dartmouth (12-5, 5-2 Ivy) in the finals after dropping a 2-1 decision to the Big Green two weeks ago at Jordan Field.

Before they get their wish, however, the Crimson will have to get past Drexel (11-9) in Saturday's semifinal.

Unfortunately for Harvard, Drexel comes into the ECACs riding its longest winning streak of the season after rebounding from a disastrous 5-8 start.

Taking six of its last seven regular-season contests, including its last three games by a combined score of 12-3, Drexel's confidence has soared.

Sophomore forward Pamie Zukowski, who leads the team with fourteen goals and five assists for 33 points, will spearhead the Dragon attack.

Backing up Zukowski at midfield will be freshmen phenom Kristina Backenstose, who is third on the team in scoring with five goals and three assists for 13 points.

The strong second-half performances of Richards and Backenstose are responsible for Drexel's late-season charge, despite the Dragons' anemic defense.

Junior goalkeeper Heather Haigh has struggled at times this season and the fast-paced Crimson offense should take advantage of Drexel's defense.

Haigh, who has played every minute of the season, heads into the ECACs with a whopping 2.09 GAA and a save percentage of only .692.

Haigh's play has been inconsistent all year. Despite six shutouts, Haigh has allowed three or more goals in eight games this season, including a 6-1 rout at the hands of Northeastern, a team Harvard beat 3-2 earlier this year.

Looking to pick apart the Drexel defense will be the forward duo of tri-captain Dominique Kalil and junior Kate Nagle, and tri-captain back Katie Schoolwerth, a penalty corner specialist.

If the Harvard offense can repeat anything close to the performance they had last week when they scored three goals against the Ivy's top-rated defense, Saturday's match up with Drexel shouldn't be anything more than a tune-up for the anticipated showdown with Dartmouth.

The tournament will be played on grass instead of artificial turf, on which Harvard plays the majority of its games.

The Crimson has only faced two teams all season who compete on grass, and Drexel could be looking for an upset on a surface that favors the less-skilled team.

"It's a very large adjustment going onto grass," tri-captain netminder Anya Cowan said. "We can't wait for the ball to come to us because it's going to move a lot slower, and you can't carry the ball very easily. We're going to have to take our chances passing a lot."

The grass surface may also pose a problem for Cowan, a three-time All-Ivy selection and last week's Ivy League Player of the Week.

Despite a league-leading save percentage of .859, Cowan has traditionally had trouble on grass surfaces where the ball has a tendency to take unexpected bounces.

To go along with a slew of potential problems faced by playing on grass, the Crimson has had difficulty winning against weaker teams all season.

Last week, Harvard played one of its worst games of the season against 6-12 Providence, while earlier in the year, Harvard struggled to a 1-0 victory over Quinnipiac (10-9), the tournament's No.4 seed.

Barring a major upset on either side of the draw, however, Harvard should get a chance to redeem itself in the finals against Dartmouth.

"I think we're all out for revenge on Sunday against Dartmouth," Cowan said. "They shouldn't have won two weeks ago--we gave it to them. They're not nearly as skilled a team as we are, and we're looking to prove it to them."

If Harvard can come away with a victory over Dartmouth in the finals, it will be the team's first ECAC Championship since 1991 and would be the highlight of three amazing careers for Cowan, Kalil and Schoolwerth.