Field Hockey Stuns Huskies in OT

BOSTON—The Harvard field hockey team found itself in a difficult situation yesterday against No. 16 Northeastern, down 1-0 at halftime on the road with little if anything to be optimistic about from the first half.

Yet in the end, it was the Crimson sideline that earned the right to erupt in celebration. Junior forward Philomena Gambale scored the game winner eight minutes into overtime to give Harvard (5-4, 2-0 Ivy) a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Huskies (9-3), the top-ranked team in New England.

“We completely turned it around,” Gambale said. “I’m so proud of us for being able to do that, because that’s a hard thing to do.”

The Crimson was outshot 10-1 in the first half. From the second half on, Harvard outshot the Huskies 10-2, including 3-0 in overtime.

Gambale’s goal was the culmination of several minutes of Harvard pressure in the Northeastern end.

Though they were not credited with assists, sophomore forward Jen Ahn and freshman midfielder Kate Gannon set up the game-winner. Ahn started the attack by manuevering around several defenders and getting the ball to Gannon at the top of the circle. Gannon slotted the ball through two defenders to set Gambale up with a one-on-one.

“We were running all over the place trying to create opportunities,” Gambale said. “We were just waiting to capitalize.”

Gambale was careful not to rush her golden scoring bid. She held off her shot to ensure she had clear path past Huskie keeper Kathleen Madaus. Gambale’s patience made for an agonizing few seconds on the Harvard sideline before the celebration.

“It’s very difficult for a keeper to defend a one-on-one like that,” Gannon said.

Gannon scored the game-tying goal 13 minutes into the second half. The scoring chance came about as senior back Heather Hussey passed on a restart to freshman midfielder Shelley Maasdorp, who deflected the ball around the circle. Gannon retrieved it and put the ball on goal with favorable results.

“I think the sun had a lot to do with it,” Gannon said. “[Madaus] was looking at the sun and it was a tough spot for her to be in, but it’s good that we got to take advantage of it.”

Gannon’s goal exonerated Harvard from an uninspired first half of play when the Crimson players rarely completed a pass in the Northeastern zone and consistently behaved as if they were short a few players every time they had the ball.

“We were totally outplayed in the first half,” said Harvard Coach Sue Caples. “We stood around and watched. We did not make good decisions.”

Caples said that she was as vocal as she ever had been at halftime.

“We can’t just step on the field and expect to play at that level,” Caples said after the game. “We have to work—be a blue-collar, working-class team. We needed to start moving, move on attack and move on defense. That was the bottom line.”

The team responded to the challenge. The Crimson earned its first penalty corner in three halves soon after halftime and never looked back.

“We knew we weren’t playing to our potential,” Gannon said. “We just made the concious decsision to turn it around. Sue gave us a talk at halftime. That got us going, and I think we all pushed each other on the field. It makes a big difference.”

The Huskies could not mount much more than an occasional counterattack in the second half. When they did, the Crimson backfield of seniors Katie Turck, Sarah Luskin, junior Katie Scott and Hussey—who stepped up to replace injured senior Natalia Berry—promptly shut them down.

The Crimson blamed an overly conservative playing style for its first half struggles.

“We dug ourselves a hole because we were so defensive-minded,” Caples said.

“We were back on our heels and kind of let it happen in the first half,” Gannon added. “We definitely came out much more attacking in the second half and that made all the difference.”

One of the few areas where Harvard struggled in the second half was on penalty corners. The poor conditions of the Northeastern turf, which included a giant patch-up job in the midfield, contributed to the Crimson’s prompt turnovers on each corner.

The Huskies, however, were used to the conditions and scored their only goal on a corner. Freshman Liane Dixon netted the goal on a third chance after Harvard sophomore keeper Katie Zacarian was taken out of the play.

Northeastern could easily have scored a few more goals in the first half as its speedy forwards managed a pair of breakways through the Harvard defense. But on both occassions Zacarian came out of the net and leveled the Northeastern attackers. In the second half, the Crimson defense prevented further breakaways.

“Northeastern has tremendous speed,” Caples said. “We did a better job controlling their speed by making some adjustments.”

The win over the Huskies gives Harvard its first win over a ranked opponent all season. The senior class finishes with a 3-1 career record against the traditional local power. Having lost close games at No. 2 Michigan and No. 6 Michigan St. last weekend, the Crimson managed to avoid resuming its Ivy schedule at Cornell on Sunday with a three-game losing streak.

Harvard will aim to play a complete game from the opening whistle against Cornell, as it did in its 5-0 home victory over the Big Red last season.

“We became more disciplined in the second half,” Caples said. “That’s the way we have to start games because then we’ll get our momentum going.”