W. Soccer Round-Up: Injuries, Love and Glass Slippers All Part of the Season

The roller coaster ride is unfortunately over for the Harvard women's soccer team.

Its up-and-down season was marked by injuries, winning streaks, Ivy League championship hopes, upset victories in the NCAA tournament, and a close match with the No. 1 team in the nation.

The Crimson (12-8, 4-3 Ivy) gave its all at Alumni Field against top-ranked Notre Dame (23-0-1) this Friday, but Harvard's 2-0 loss meant that the team's Cinderella NCAA tournament run had ended in the Sweet Sixteen.

The Crimson now has a chance to sit back, mull over its successes and failures, and gain some perspective.

Harvard will have to assess whether or not its play met expectations this season. The Crimson women, after all, began the year ranked No. 7 in the nation.

"I think {we met expectations}," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "Considering how hard we played, the injuries we've had, and the tough schedule we play, there's no shame in losing in the round of sixteen."

The No. 7 preseason ranking was acquired before Harvard suffered several crippling injuries to begin the year.

The loss of sophomore Beth Totman, the Crimson's top scorer in 1999, to stress fractures in both legs hurt the team early.

"Losing Totman really got us down at the beginning," co-captain Lauren Corkery said. "She was one of our top scorers last year [along with sophomore midfielder Bryce Weed] and we needed more goals this year."

Weed went down with a knee injury in the first weeks of the season.

The losses of Weed and Totman were accompanied by sophomore back Caitlin Butler's season-ending ACL tear.

The injuries meant that the offense would have to find other options quickly, and the team's resiliency would allow them to find them.

Sophomore forward Joey Yenne, Harvard's leading scorer on the season (11G, 4A), assumed the bulk of the offensive burden left in Totman's absence. Yenne came out strong, netting a hat trick in the Crimson's second game, a 7-1 route over Vermont.

"Losing such a huge part of our team like Beth [Totman] obviously makes it difficult," junior forward Caitlin Costello said. "I'm sure it put a lot of pressure on Joey, but she handled it fine."

Despite some early lapses, the Crimson was able to right itself and put together a seven-game winning streak to share the Ivy League lead. Harvard would have to defeat nationally ranked Dartmouth to keep its hopes alive.

A repeat Ivy title was not in the cards, however, as the Crimson later lost to the Big Green to remove the defending champions from contention.

"One of our goals coming out was to win the Ivy again and get the rings," Corkery said. "I think that when we lost it against Dartmouth, things went downhill."

The loss of the title was not the last setback for the tight-knit Crimson.

Harvard went on to lose five games in a row, including a loss to lowly Columbia in its final regular season game just days before the NCAA announced its tournament bids.

"It was so discouraging to drop those games," Corkery said. "They were all such close matches. Ending the year with a loss to Columbia would have been awful [had the team not gone to NCAAs]."

The Crimson, however, had a few more thrills left on its ride.

After receiving a bid for the NCAA tournament, the team had new life and a chance to prove that its uneven performance throughout the year was no indication of its talent.

"Our closeness really carried us at the end," Costello said. "We pulled together, and felt like we needed to prove that we could play with anyone in the country."

And they did, making an incredible surge to a Sweet Sixteen showdown with the top-ranked Fighting Irish.

Harvard began its Cinderella run with a 2-1 win over Quinnipiac. Senior forward Ashley Mattison exploded for two goals in the win.

"A lot of our girls really stepped it up at the end," Corkery said. "When [junior forward Colleen] Moore went down against Hartford, we knew someone would have to get goals. Mattison was huge when it counted."

The Crimson next faced No. 19 Hartford in a rematch of its unlucky 2-1 loss to the Hawks earlier in the year. Harvard rolled to a 3-0 win a got set to take on undefeated Notre Dame.

Harvard was able to play with the Irish, allowing only two goals on set plays from the corner restart.

Despite the 2-0 loss in South Bend, the Crimson viewed its performance against Notre Dame as a success.

"I feel like if you come in and play the No. 1 team in the country in this type of situation, give up two corner kick goals, and no goals in the run of play, that's a pretty good job," Wheaton said.

The players agreed with their coach.

"Sure we had some bumps in the road," Costello said. "But I think we came out and showed that we can play with anyone in the nation. Giving up two corner goals isn't that bad against a No. 1 team."

With the strike of midnight a few days past, Harvard is now able to assess its performance during the year and determine what needs to be changed for next year.

"This year taught us a lot," Corkery said. "Sure we could have won more games, but we played so well together that next year's team can build on that. This year's team just needed a few more goals and a bit of luck."

The Crimson vows to take some of these important lessons into next year. Not least of all, Harvard knows that the team's unity will carry over.

"We're a very close team," Costello said. "I think the juniors will strive to match the leadership of the [outgoing] seniors. Our jobs will be easier with this great group of girls [returning underclassmen] who have one more year behind them."

The team's 2000 season has certainly been unpredictable, but its reliance on "team love" has made the result a satisfying one.