Springfield College snapped the Harvard field hockey team's unbeaten string of eight games, shutting out the Crimson stickwomen, 2-0, yesterday afternoon in Springfield.

"I don't think it's a disgrace that we lost. We played an excellent game," Crimson mentor Debi Field said last night.

The Crimson overcame the cold, rainly weather and their unfamiliarity with the astrouturf surface to play the Springfield stickwomen evenly throughout, as witnessed by the fact that Harvard fired nine shots to Springfield's eight.

But despite some characteristically stellar defensive play by backs Mary Howard and captain Lucy Wood in the first half, the Crimson was unable to get set, as the offense could not penetrate Springfield's tremendously effective defensive wall.

"We had our chances, but we couldn't convert and they could. They took advantage of the few mistakes that we made," Field said.

Springfield's first tally came with nine minutes left in the first half. Springfield's Kathy Noble took a centering pass on a penalty corner play and slipped it by the screened Harvard goalie, Ellen Seidler, to foil Seidler's bid for a fourth straight shutout, and put Springfield ahead, 1-0.

"There was a little let down on our part after that first goal," Wood said afterwards. "We had been outplaying them up to that point, but they picked up their confidence after that," she added.

Nevertheless, the contest remained scoreless until 19:30 of the second half, when a shot by Springfield's Mary Bunting bounced off the pads of the usually stingy Seidler. Springfield's Laurie Smith scopped up the rebound and rifled it home to give her team a 2-0 advantage.

The Harvard offense, whiewashed for the fourth time in 12 games, played a solid game but could not consistently unleash clean, hard shots at the Springfield net. "We have to learn how to score on an astro-turf surface. Their small, diagonal passes in front of the net were very effective--they had very good control of the ball," Wood commented.

Despite the loss, the Crimson's solid play yesterday provided encouragement for their biggest contest of the year--Thursday morning's tilt in the opening round of the Eastern Athletic Intercollegiate Association of Women tournament here in Cambridge.

"We have momentum in spite of the loss. Now we just have added incentive to explode in the tournament," Wood claimed.

Harvard, unseeded by request in the 16-team battle-royale, will face the winner of the contest between top-seed New Hampshire and Keene State Thursday afternoon if they get past the Bulldogs.

"We have to play consistently and keep our cool in the tourney," Field said last night. "It will be a question of who makes the least mistakes," she added.

The top to finishers in this weekend's tournament qualify to compete in the NCAA championships in Denver over Thanksgiving weekend.