Women Booters Tally Once, Tame Toothless Tigers

"It was like sweet revenge."

Harvard women's soccer Coach Bob Scalise's description of his squad's hard-earned 1-0 victory over Princeton Saturday epitomized the elation of each Crimson player who remembered the disappointing loss in last year's Princeton-Harvard game.

Karen Pinezich scored Saturday's lone goal on a pass from Cathy Dawson with less than nine minutes to go in the second half. "She was very composed," Co-Captain Karen Garibaldi said of Pinezich, who leveled out Dawson's high-bouncing pass and drove her shot past two Princeton defenders.

Scalise credited the victory to the Crimson's "super team effort." He noted that the Harvard booters "knew they had a team behind them, so they could take more chances."

The Tigers had planned to utilize a high-tempo offense that relied on their key individuals--but the Crimson's united effort and 17-player depth left them "frustrated," Scalise said.

Before the game, Scalise had wondered if Harvard could handle the Tigers' quickness up front with injured fullback Lori Barry sitting out. But after the game, Scalise said, "Our backs did a great job of shutting down their offense."

Sweeper Andrea Montalbano played an important role in the Crimson defense, keeping the Tigers out of striking range. Montalbano's strong crosses and fast dribbling repeatly secured the ball for Harvard's front line. Capturing many balls, tireless center midfielder Jen Gifford also helped to break up the Princeton attack.

Despite the small number of direct shots on goal, Harvard goalie Tracee Whitley remained alert throughout the game--and made an important save on a Princeton direct kick from just outside the penalty box in the last minute.

"I always know it's going to happen that way with something really dangerous happening at the end," Whitley said.

Although Harvard dominated in both skill and fitness, the booters had difficulty getting shots off in the first half. "We just had a hard time finishing," Montalbano said.

Smart Tigers

Scalise credited an intelligent Tiger defense: "Princeton marked us man-to-man and closed us down," he said. In the second half, however, "Our players made the mental adjustment to play the ball into open spaces--generating many more dangerous chances," Scalise added.

The Crimson had expected Saturday's game to be highly physical. And Princeton's repeated brutal run-ins with Harvard players culminated in a second-half head and leg injury to key player Julie Sasner.

Crimson trainer Theresa "T.K." Kennedy, who led Sasner off of the field, said that the Princeton player "just ran right into [Sasner] with no attempt to play the ball."

Harvard's recent shut-outs of two good teams "will help us go into next week," Scalise said. The booters have games against Ivy foes Yale and Brown on the horizon.