SEASON RECAP: Despite Rocky Start, Harvard Takes Second

Slow and steady nearly won the race for the Crimson field hockey team this season.

After more than a month without a win, Harvard broke its losing streak and started to creep its way out of the depths of defeat.

The opening string of losses marked the second consecutive season in which the Crimson suffered a 10-game skid and notched an overall record below .500.

As in the 2005 season, Harvard was again badgered by one-goal losses in 2006, all five of which were suffered during the first 10 contests. Among those losses were a 1-0 loss to No. 10 Connecticut and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of No. 15 Providence, two of the four ranked opponents the Crimson faced this season.

Even though Harvard was the last Ivy League team to earn a win, recording its first nearly halfway through the season, the Crimson earned a fourth of the league’s second-place laurels, tied with Cornell, Penn, and Yale.

Second place behind undefeated habitual frontrunner Princeton was widely shared in 2006, with half of the Ivy League claiming silver with a 4-3 record.

“It’s a tremendous tribute to this team,” said Harvard head coach Sue Caples of the squad’s finish. “The team showed character and great resolve in rebounding and coming together as a group, really allowing us to move forward.”

After a pair of overtime wins, the first to the Crimson’s name, were followed by a string of three brutal defeats, it seemed the prospect of another fruitless Ivy season propelled Harvard to a strong finish.

In its season finale at Jordan Field against Ivy opponent Columbia, the fate of the Crimson’s season still rested in the outcome against the Lions.

With an even record in the Ivy League, Harvard’s standing would be determined by the result of this final contest. A rare penalty stroke in the game’s first half resulted in a goal by junior Tamara Sobek-Rosnick to put the Crimson up, 1-0.

Columbia came roaring back in the second half to tie the score, but as the clock wound down on Harvard’s season, junior Devon Shapiro lifted the ball into the Lions’ net, catapulting the Crimson into the No. 2 spot in the Ivy League and finishing out the season on a high note.

“You get out what you put in,” said Shapiro, who was named one of next year’s captains. “If we put enough in, we will get the results that we hope for.”

“Every season is a fresh start,” she added. “This team is completely different than the team my freshman year, but without a doubt, it is every bit as capable.”

Several experienced members of the team are returning to the Crimson next season, and with seven freshmen joining the squad, Harvard hopes to start anew and recapture its former glory.

—Staff writer Courtney M. Petrouski can be reached at petrousk@fas.harvard.edu.