Eagles Claw W. Booters, 3-1

The action in last night's Harvard-Boston College women's soccer game at Alumni Field gave sports fans of all kinds something to complain about.

Purists could gripe about the field's springy artificial turf, which produced unpredictable bounces, carried through-passes out of bounds and left players on both sides with painful rug burns.

Non-traditionalists could point to the gusty winds that left players shivering at either end of the open-ended stadium.

And fans of the Harvard women's soccer team could complain about the final score. After playing the Golden Eagles even for 80 minutes, the Crimson got stuck on the short end of a 3-1 decision.

Harvard, winless in its last four games, dropped its third straight decision to a nationally ranked squad. The Golden Eagles join William & Mary and Ivy leader Brown in the Top Twenty teams victorious over the Crimson.

With 10 minutes left to play and the score knotted, 1-1, unmarked B.C. striker Katie Connelly received the ball outside the penalty area to the left of Harvard goaltender Beth Reilly. The senior forward ripped a bullet into the upper right corner of the Crimson net to give the Eagles the lead for good.

Harvard (2-3-1 overall, 1-1-0 Ivy) could not mount an effective counterattack, and B.C. added an insurance goal in the waning minutes for the final margin.

"We had a really hard time with the field," Crimson forward Robin Johnston said. "They definitely knew how to play on turf, and we didn't. On grass, it would have been different. We tried to play our normal game, and it just didn't work."

Between the Wickets

The Crimson got the better of the early play, controlling the ball on the ground while B.C. tried to travel via the aerial route.

Late in the period, Harvard Co-Captain Andrea Montalbano, after a long run upfield from her sweeper position, received a square pass from Johnston on an indirect kick. Montalbano fired away at Eagle netminder Diane Cordano from 25 yards out. The rusty Cordano, returning to action after a disabling injury to her Achilles tendon, could not handle the shot, which slipped between her legs for a 1-0 Crimson advantage.

After two minutes of Harvard glory, B.C. midfielder Heather Hughes caught Reilly, who finished the contest with 11 saves, leaning the wrong way, depositing the ball in the right corner of the Crimson cage to tie up the score before intermission.

Halfback Christine Biggs had an excellent opportunity to put the Crimson in the lead early in the second session. Harvard stopper Tara Weinstock fed Johnston a lead pass towards the left corner. But Biggs' driving header of Johnston's looping cross was nabbed by Cordano.

"The turf wore us out a bit, but we were doing a good job connecting passes to feet," Weinstock said. "We were holding them off really well, but it's still just a matter of putting the ball in the net."

THE NOTEBOOK: Once again, the Crimson was without the services of Co-Captain Jen Gifford, who missed her fourth straight game with strained knee ligaments. Midfielder Heather Jackson, who sprained her ankle in last Friday's overtime loss to Brown, also stayed on the sidelines...The Crimson's schedule resumes this Saturday against the University of Vermont in Burlington. The Catamounts play on natural, all-American grass. Outdoors. Bring long underwear.