Stickwomen Nudge Northeastern in OT

Last year, goalie Denise Katsias was the bright spot for the Harvard field hockey team, recording 144 saves and four shut-outs as a freshman.

This year, Sharon Landau appears to be Katsias' heir apparent as the Crimson's shining rookie. And yesterday, Katsias and Landau combined their considerable talents to lift the Crimson to a 2-1 overtime victory over Northeastern in front of 30 spectators at Soldiers Field.

Landau, a forward, scored both Harvard goals--including one with three minutes left in overtime--and Katsias recorded a career-high 25 saves to lead the Crimson (2-0) past a rebuilding Huskie squad (1-2).

In Harvard's 5-1 season-opening victory over Rhode Island Saturday, Landau scored a goal and recorded an assist--and showed that she has added not only new blood, but also a blood-thirsty drive for goals, to the Harvard offense.

"I was happy about the goals," Landau said. "I guess scoring goals is my job."

Katsias, whose previous game-high save total was 18, was similarly pleased with her efforts: "I think I did a good job," she said, "but the team really pulled me through."

Both Katsias and Landau got support from their teammates.

Early in the second half, Northeastern, taking advantage of five succesive penalty corners, flung a barrage of shots toward the Harvard goal. Three of those shots slipped past Katsias, who was charging out of the goalie's box on the penalty corners. But on each occasion defender Jane Grim slipped into position to deflect the shot.

"She was right where she was supposed to be," Katsias said.

On the game-winning goal, Crimson forward Nicole Simourian stormed past the Northeastern defense into the corner and flicked the ball toward the Huskie net. Cindi Ersek picked up the pass and shoveled the ball to Landau, who flicked a shot past Huskie goalie Lisa Boudreau and into the left-hand corner of the goal. Boudreau's tally set off a wild celebration on the Harvard bench.

"It's not only freshmen who help the team," Katsias said. "But they add some spark."

Last year, Harvard dropped a 3-0 decision to the Huskies on the artificial turf of Northeastern's Parsons Field. This year, on the grass of Soldiers Field, the Harvard offense outran the Northeastern defense and held solid field position for much of the game. The Crimson defense did the rest.

"We were on turf last year and that was a huge factor," Northeastern Coach Joan Broderick said. "But the real story was--they struck, they scored and we lost."

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard's next game is against Providence Saturday at Soldiers Field...One measure of Harvard Coach Nita Lamborghini's faith: Katsias is the only goalie on the varsity squad...Landau's three goals this season lead the team. Last season three stickwomen shared the season lead with two goals apiece...Northeastern had 20 penalty corners, Harvard nine.