The Harvard women's soccer juggernaut capped its brilliant undefeated season in Providence Saturday, stunning perennial powerhouse Brown with a 3-0 shutout in the finals of the Ivy League tournament to capture the league crown.
After sitting out due to a first-round bye, the Crimson handled Yale easily in the morning semifinals, then demolished the Bruins under the lights by virtue of tournament MVP Julie Brynteson's hat trick.
"We have a real feeling of accomplishment," coach Bob Scalise said yesterday. "It was a great tournament to win."
The final pairing was set up by a variety of preliminary match-ups. In Friday's opening round, Princeton won by default over a no-show Cornell eleven, and Yale eked out a 2-1 win over Dartmouth on a sudden-death penalty kick following two overtime periods.
While Brown was handily dispatching Princeton, 3-1, in the Saturday morning semis, the Crimson took charge of its game and clobbered Yale, 4-1.
Harvard wasted no time in disposing of the Eli eleven, assuming a never-to-be-relinquished lead just three minutes into the game. Crimson leading scorer Sue St. Louis--who else?--registered the ice-breaker on a pass from Kathy Batter.
Taking the ball at the edge of the penalty area, St. Louis whirled and fired a shot that deflected off an Eli fullback and skidded past a bewildered Yale netminder.
Follow-up
The Crimson booters followed with single goals by Brynteson and wing Ellen Jakovic. St. Louis then rounded out the scoring with her second tally. Leading 4-0 at the half, Harvard mentor Scalise rested the starters in the second stanza while his booters coasted to the 4-1 victory.
The win over Yale set the stage for a Harvard-Brown final, played late Saturday afternoon on a flood-lit Bruin field.
Brown came into the game with hopes of avenging its 2-0 loss to the Crimson earlier this season, but the Bruins' hopes were dashed on the foot of Harvard's Brynteson.
The Crimson opened the scoring after three minutes of play. Freshman right-wing Cat Ferrante raced down the sideline, turned the corner, and booted a cross-pass into Brown's penalty area. The eager Brynteson snatched Ferrante's pass and sent a hard shot over the head of Bruin netminder Stefi Sanders for goal number one.
Fifteen minutes later, Brynteson dribbled the ball into the left corner of Brown's penalty area and whistled a shot high into the right corner of the Bruin net for number two.
The tireless Brynteson completed the hat trick with ten minutes remaining in the first half. This time, Ferrante crossed to St. Louis near the right post. When a Brown defender broke up St. Louis, the ball squirted over to Brynteson, who slammed it home for the game's final score.
Strong Sweep
Brown managed to contain the Harvard offense in the second half. Bruin sweeper back Evonne Goldsberry succeeded in shutting down the explosive St. Louis, while Brown defender Darcy Fernald shadowed Brynteson.
However, Scalise and Brown mentor Phil Pincince both said the Crimson defense deserved credit for the shut-out.
"We were excellent defensively," Scalise said. "We can always score goals, but the main thing is to stop the other team from scoring more than we can."
Pincince said the "Harvard backs were extremely fast and have an excellent counter-attacking style. We are better one-on-one, but as a team they seem to do the job."
The coaches met after the game and selected an All-Ivy team. Harvard placed six players on the squad, while Brown landed five. The Crimson's entire starting front four made the team, with Brynteson and St. Louis on the first team and Ferrante and Ellen Hart on the second squad.
The coaches selected Harvard defensive standouts Wendy Sands and Kathy Batter to the first and second teams, respectively, and Brynteson received the tournament MVP award for her amazing four-goal, one-assist performance.
Big Game Coming
While elated with the weekend results, the undefeated booters aren't claiming number one status in New England until the results come in from their game versus UMass Wednesday afternoon.
"UMass in undefeated and they tied Brown," St. Louis noted, "Which says that they're really good. It will definitely be THE game of the season," she added.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Princeton def. Cornell (default)
Yale 2, Dartmouth 1
SEMIFINALS
Harvard 4, Yale 1
Brown 3, Princeton 1
FINAL
Harvard 3, Brown 0
FINAL ROUND STATS
SCORING: First Half--1. Harvard, 3:24, Julie Bryntesonfrom Cat Ferrante. 2. Harvard, 19:32, Brynteson (unassisted). 3. Harvard, 33:27, Brynteson from Sue St. Louis. Second Half--none. ALL IVY TEAM First Team: JULIE BRYNTESON (Harvard), Sarah Franklin (Dartmouth), SUEST. LOUIS (Harvard), Gale Maschka (Brown), Nnena Odim (Princeton), Lisa Segbarth (Brown), Darcy Fernald) (Brown), Anne Russell (Princeton), WENDY SANDS (Harvard), Kathy Sykes (Dartmouth), Stefi Sanders (Brown). SECOND Team for Harvard: Cat Ferrante, Ellen Hart, Kathy Batter.
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