Field Hockey Triumphs Over Huskies, 1-0

The absolute last thing Northeastern keeper Kathleen Madaus wanted to see with six minutes left in a deadlocked game was the Crimson's two leading scorers, sophomore Philomena Gambale and freshman Kate McDavitt, rushing the net, side-by-side.

But that was exactly the challenge she faced when McDavitt--with Gambale to her right--found an unobstructed path to the net from the left-center part of the circle. After chancing a pass, McDavitt got the ball back and lifted it over Madaus's left shoulder for the lone score in No. 19 Harvard's 1-0 win over No. 20 Northeastern (7-8).

"Basically I got an open ball, then it was just me and Philomena," McDavitt said. "I tried to pass it flat and it hit the girl's leg, but I just got it off her leg and hit it past the goalie."

The McDavitt goal ended a long string of missed opportunities for Harvard (7-3, 3-0 Ivy) who outshot the Huskies by a lopsided 18-2 margin. The Crimson earned 10 penalty corners and allowed just one for Northeastern.

"I feel a lot of times we had trouble finishing," McDavitt said. "But we're working on it, and I think we'll get better and better."

McDavitt had put together one of Harvard's best scoring chances 10 minutes before netting the game-winner. Taking a pass from junior forward Jane Park, she ran across the face of the net and attempted an amazing leaping shot. All at once, she managed to turn her stick to the legal side, lift the ball, and send it in the opposite direction of her trajectory.

Both McDavitt and the ball went flying off the ground, but Madaus was able to make the save.

The most frustrating moments of the game were the final 10 minutes of the first half, during which Harvard acquired six penalty corners in succession but failed to score.

The first penalty corner was the closest Harvard came to scoring. First-half Northeastern goalie Emily Roy was unable to contain a Liz Sarles shot and left a rebound nearly within reach of junior back Katie Turck. The Huskies beat her to it and forced another corner.

In the following minutes, Harvard tried every corner play in the book: passing the ball to sophomore back Katie Scott, passing the ball to senior forward Kate Nagle, having Sarles shoot directly--but nothing worked.

By the tenth corner, the Huskies had Harvard all figured out. After Sarles passed off to McDavitt, a Northeastern defender remembered what she had seen on penalty corner number five and moved right in front of Scott in anticipation

"We had a lot of chances," Harvard Coach Sue Caples said. "On some days you're going to get those little bounces. We didn't. But a win is a win--it doesn't matter how many you win by."

After a lethargic first 15 minutes, Harvard took complete control.

Solid passing and ball control enabled the Crimson to run the game at its desired pace, while the Harvard defense kept Northeastern from controlling the ball for any significant length of time.

Boxed into their own end, the Huskies' most successful offensive tactic was to clear the ball the length of the field.

"Both teams [struggled], maybe it was just the mid-week matinee," Caples said. "But we never let Northeastern built any type of momentum. Our transfers were good. At times we could have carried a bit more, but we moved the ball with speed."

In the game's final minutes, freshman Husky forward Sarah Webber tried to create a scoring chance by applying pressure on Scott and Turck in the Harvard end. Neither had any trouble with Webber's aggression, however, and both succeeded in passing the ball far out of the Harvard zone to run out the clock and preserve the win.

The 1-0 loss was Huskies' fifth in a row. Northeastern had risen as high as 11th in the national rankings, but injuries, most notably captain Krisanne Duchemin's torn MCL, have crippled the once-powerful Husky squad.

"They lost a couple of key players from their team and they're just not the same team," Caples said.

The depleted Husky roster did not tarnish the victory for Caples. Having coached at Harvard for 13 years, she knows the significance of any kind of win over Northeastern.

"We're just learning how to beat Northeastern," Caples said. "This is the second year in a row. We've worked hard and long to get to the point where we can beat a Northeastern. Sometimes it's in your mind, the perception that they're a top ten team."

The Crimson will look to stretch its winning streak to three when it takes on winless Yale at Jordan Field on Saturday afternoon.