W. Soccer Opens NCAA Tourney Against B.C.

The Harvard women's soccer will get a chance to prove whether or not it can compete with the nation's best when it takes the field against Boston College on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

No. 9 Harvard (14-1-1, 7-0 Ivy) is currently riding the nation's fourth-longest unbeaten streak, and hasn't lost a game since early September, when they were shutout 1-0 by New Hampshire.

Despite its No. 9 ranking, Harvard received the eighth seed, its highest ever in the tournament, in part because it captured its fourth Ivy crown in the last five years.

Harvard, which is making its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament and received a bye in the first round, will face a battle-hardened B.C. squad that has already competed in three playoff contests just to get to this stage of the tournament.

This past Wednesday, the Eagles routed Fairfield (14-5-3), 4-1, in one of the most lopsided victories of the first round.

Fairfield lost the game almost before it started, going down 2-0 in the first six minutes of the game off a pair of goals by senior forward Mary Guarino.

Guarino is the Eagles' leading scorer and the team's most dangerous player on the field.

With 17 goals and nine assists for 43 points this season, Guarino is 19th in the nation in points per game and has lead her team to its best performance in over a decade.

Prior to Wednesday's match-up, the Eagles hadn't competed in an NCAA tournament game since 1985. In the early eighties, B.C. reached the NCAA tournament in four consecutive seasons (1982-1985), amassing a 2-4 record.

Despite Guarino's impressive statistics, the timeliness of her scoring has been the crucial factor in B.C.'s success.

Guarino has risen to the occasion in each of the Eagles' post-season games. Tallying four goals and two assists for 10 points in three games, Guarino has single-handedly vaulted the Eagles into the second round of the tournament.

If Guarino comes out and scores early like she did against Fairfield, she could pose a serious threat to Harvard's survival in the tournament.

However, Guarino isn't the only threat up front for the Eagles. Sophomore Morgan Page will play alongside Guarino at the forward spot.

Page is second on the team in scoring with 13 goals and seven assists for 33 points, and has hooked up with Guarino all season to bury shots in the opposition's net.

Sophomore forward Meghan Moore will be feeding long passes to both Guarino and Page.

Moore leads the team with 11 assists, has 17 total points and is part of the Eagles' large pool of underclassmen that are quickly turning into rising stars.

Harvard has its own contingent of rising stars, however, and the Crimson's freshmen members are sure to keep Eagle junior goalkeeper Courtney Schaeffer busy all day long.

Headlined by the scoring duo of forwards Beth Totman and Joey Yenne, the freshmen class has added an incredible scoring punch to an already strong championship defense.

"The freshmen contingent, especially Beth and Joey who've started all season, have been great playmakers and really brought a new style to the team," senior back Gina Foster said.

Totman is second in the Ivy in scoring with six goals and seven assists for 19 points, while Yenne is right behind her with six goals and six assists for a total of 18 points.

However, the forwards will have their hands full facing one of the top goaltenders in the Big East.

Schaeffer, who has been a starter since her freshmen year, has 11 shutouts this season and a goals against average of .779.

Prior to the Big East quarterfinal this season, where Schaeffer was red carded in the 89th minute of a 1-1 tie for handling the ball outside the penalty box and saving the game for the Eagles, Schaeffer had started in 57 straight games for the Eagles. Because of the card, she was forced to sit out the Eagles' next game against Uconn, which the Huskies won 2-1 in overtime.

Given the overall strength of B.C. in every position, the Crimson isn't taking its showdown with Eagles lightly, despite beating BC 4-0 earlier this season.

"We know from playing them that the score doesn't tell the whole story," said co-captain forward Beth Zotter. "They came out very strong against us early and put us on our heels. They're a skilled team and were very aggressive. Considering how well they played, I don't think beating them gives us any sense of false security."

Considering the slow start Harvard had against B.C. last time, the team has been fine-tuning its game all week to deal with the perceived problem.

"We've been really working on coming out strong right from the kickoff," Foster said. "Since we beat them last time, they're going to come back with a vengeance."

If Harvard goes down early, however, it may pose problems for a young team that has only had to come back from a deficit once all season.

Harvard, the top defense in the country, will have to shut down Guarino and the Eagle offense.

Lead by co-captain Jessica Larson and freshman keeper Cheryl Gunther, the Crimson defense has allowed only eight goals all season and has never allowed more than one in a single game.

With a save percentage of .929 and a goals against average of 0.40, Gunther has quickly established herself as the Ivy League's premier goaltender.

Despite winning Player of the Week honors three times this season, Gunther gives all the credit to her defense.

"The defense has helped me more than I'd ever imagined," Gunther said. "It's been great as a freshman to have them listen to you during the game, especially when they're such great players."

If the defense holds and the Crimson clips the Eagles' wings on Sunday, they'll have a rematch with the winner of the Dartmouth-Conneticut game, two teams Harvard has narrowly beaten this year.

Sunday's game is the first step on the long path to the NCAA championship and this might very well be the best chance Harvard has ever had to win the tournament.

Despite the nerves, the team is confident that it will come out strong on Sunday.

"We're maybe a little nervous because it could be our last game of the season," Yenne said. "And every game's a must-win for us now, but we're expecting to go on and it will definitely get harder when we have to face either Dartmouth or UConn."