Crimson Drops Contest to Cross-Town Foe

Sometimes winning is not everything. In a game that was expected to be a one-sided battle, the Harvard field hockey team (4-7, 1-2 Ivy) held its own in a 3-1 loss to Boston University (6-8, 2-0 America East) last night. Although the scoreboard indicated a Terrier victory, the Crimson achieved a game-high 10 penalty corners and rose to the challenge against a very talented team.

“I think it was a really well-played game, an exciting 70 minutes,” Harvard coach Sue Caples said. “Boston University is very athletic, and is a strong, fast team, but we played tactically and executed our game plan.”

“Boston University was coming to push us around,” freshman goalkeeper Cynthia Tassopoulos said. “But we were very physical with them and had tons of [penalty] corners and scoring opportunities.”

Despite a higher number of penalty corner chances than its Boston opponent, the Crimson was unable to translate the opportunities into goals.

“We need to focus on scoring on corners,” co-captain Elizabeth Goodman-Bacon said. “We generated a lot of offense, but we need to finish and execute chances.”

Boston University dominated the early play, keeping the ball in its possession for the vast majority of the first half.

The Terriers’ break came at 28:38 into the first period with a goal from defender Jacinda McLeod, her fourth on the season, off of an assist from teammate Nikki Lloyd. Tassopoulos was able to make the initial save on the penalty corner, but McLeod capitalized on an easy rebound, putting the ball away into the lower right corner.

The Crimson squad also had a late chance to make a mark on the scoreboard, earning three penalty corners in the last two minutes of first-half play. But Boston University goalkeeper Amanda Smith and the defense shut down each Harvard chance. On the second corner, Smith took a shot in the chest from junior Crimson standout Chloe Keating, preserving the Terriers’ 1-0 lead.

The second half saw two more Boston University scores, the first coming in the early minutes after the starting whistle. Maryette Stuart collected the ball on a pass from Lloyd and banked in a goal off of Tassopoulos that barely cleared the crossbar, and was ruled a score after several minutes of deliberation among the game officials.

The third and final Terrier goal came again from McLeod, who tipped a shot over Tassopoulos’ shoulder into the net at 50:01. The score came from a penalty shot and off of a combination of assists from Haley Robinson and Allie Dolce.

Sophomore midfielder Carly Dickson helped Harvard eventually find its scoring form in the 23rd minute of the second half. Dickson took advantage of a one-two assist from sophomore Georgia McGillivray and co-captain Kristin Bannon on a penalty corner.

Overall, Boston University outshot the Crimson, 21-13.

While Harvard came up short offensively, a positive aspect of the game was Tassopoulos’ stellar performance in goal. The freshman was recently named Ivy League Rookie of the Week and has been consistently rising to the test of college-level play.

“[Cynthia] has been showing really great leadership,” Caples said. “She’s a smart, poised, and composed player, and, even as a freshman, has been keeping us in games.”

But outstanding results from Tassopoulos may not be ideal.

“I think we’re giving up too many shots and don’t want Cynthia to look that good.” Caples quipped. “As a team, we’re giving too many second and third opportunities. We need to take care of the ball.”

In addition, the Harvard team, led by Tassopoulos’ defense, is steadily improving.

“I don’t think our record shows the progress we’ve made,” Goodman-Bacon said. “I think we are improving a lot as a team and our skill is getting so much better each game.”

“We have a losing record, but we’ve been progressing,” Tassopoulos agreed. “We’ve played top schools like UMass, Michigan, and now BU, and have kept the games tight. We’re really stepping up and playing to their level.”