The Crimson stickwomen and the visiting Brown Bruins battled to a scoreless tie yesterday on Soldiers' Field. The once-fearsome Radcliffe offense, which clicked for 17 goals in the first six contests of the year, has now failed to produce a single tally in the last two games.

The fine defensive play of the last two teams Radcliffe has faced--Brown yesterday and Princeton last Saturday--has caused the sudden scoring drought Crimson coach Debi Field said yesterday.

"We have to learn to read defenses better," she explained. "We are not yet capable as a unit of evaluating what the other team is doing to stop us."

'Cliffe captain Dupuis also praised the Bruin defense especially the aggressive Brown goalies, who gambled and wandered far afield to rush offensive players and bat away the ball.

But Dupuis cited other reasons for the team's weak offensive showing. "We stopped making the plays and started reacting to what Brown was doing," she said yesterday. "When we took shots across the goal mouth, there was no one there to knock the ball in. Earlier this year, everyone went pall-mall for the ball. Today we were cautious."

"After Saturday, we know what it is like to lose, and we don't like it. That's forced us to play it safe, and by doing that we gave Brown the extra second they needed to make all the plays," Dupuis added.

Susie McCune fired a number of hard, beautiful shots on corner plays, but after the Bruin goalie deflected them the other Crimson forwards weren't there in time to capitalize on the play. "We're just not as crazy as we were for getting the ball," Dupuis said.

Letdowns

The lack of aggressive play showed on defense too, where the Crimson was guilty of a number of letdowns that at times allowed Brown to pepper Radcliffe net-minder Ellen Seidler with shots. Only her fine play kept this game from ending as the team's second loss after six straight wins.

This Saturday, the squad will take part in the semi-finals of the New England Tournament, where individual players will be judged for the selection of area all-star teams.