Prospects seem brighter for the Radcliffe field hockey team this year, due to last spring's appointment of a new coach and benefits resulting from the merger of the Harvard and Radcliffe Athletic Departments.

Diana S. Finch and Carlene Rhodes, co-captains of the team, said yesterday that the replacement of former coach Pippi O'Connor with Debi Field should help the team.

They said the stickwomen should be able to better last year's unimpressive record of 1-9-2 under the guidance of the new coach. "She's unified the team," Rhodes said.

The co-captains called O'Connor a "part-time" coach, and said that her age and outside responsibilities prevented her from doing a better job.

"The merged athletic department now takes excellent care of the fields and us," they said, adding that such amenities as their own equipment room and fresh practice clothes daily improve the team spirit.

The departure of Barb Matson, the team's former goalie, will create the only serious gap in this year's line-up, according to Finch and Rhodes. They called Karen Linsley, who made the Northeastern team this year, the team's outstanding player.

"We have a really full schedule this year--the biggest ever," Rhodes said. The team has dropped Pine Manor and added Connecticut College, Boston University, and Southern Massachusetts University to its schedule for this season.

The co-captains said that Princeton, Yale, and Dartmouth should continue their tradition of offering the team its toughest matches.

Finch said that there seems to be a definite improvement in the team this year, "although it is hard to tell for sure."

The stickwomen suffered last year from a lack of organization, poor attendance, and weak strategy, Rhodes said. "We lost many games which we could have won if it weren't for bad organization," she said.

The team has not complained about the "exhausting" two-a-day pre-season practice schedule because of their enthusiasm with Field, the co-captains said. She has tried variations on the traditional 5-3-2-1 formation that are "best-suited for our team," they said.

At last week's practices a skeleton crew of 12 team members, both varsity and JV, concentrated on skills rather than strategy. The full varsity will have its first opportunity of the season to demonstrate its skills against Southeastern Massachusetts University on October 2.