Yesterday at Soldiers Field, the Harvard field hockey team played the flipside of Saturday's spirited, intelligent game at Dartmouth and came up with a rather sour tune--a 1-1 tie with mediocre Brown.

The deadlock leaves the Crimson with a 4-5-3 record, three million seller wins away from playoff consideration.

The inconsistency that has bewitched the stickwomen all season came around to say hello again yesterday. Clearly the better team, Harvard muffed a handful of scoring chances in the first half and needed a come-from-behind, second-half goal from Kate Martin to escape a loss.

After 12 games that have run the gamut from poor to excellent, one fact is staring coach Edie MacAusland in the face: her squad has yet to beat a Division I team.

Fine-Tuning

"As a team we adjust to the other team's level of play," MacAusland said. "I think we're better than Brown. We can really pour it on toward the end of the second half, but we've found that's too late," she added.

Martin's goal, a picture-perfect flip off a Jennifer White free-hit at 14:38, brought the sophomore within one of the 12 tallies Sarah Mleczko collected to set a Harvard record in 1978.

It also brought the stickwomen back from the 1-0 deficit they had incurred when Bruin Denise Dimitre connected on a penalty stroke at 8:12.

Gary Gilmore

For the second consecutive game, the Crimson suffered field hockey's equivalent of capital punishment, the almost-automatic penalty stroke. Once again, the opposition converted, as Demitre rolled a grasshugger past goalie Betty Ippolito's outstretched left hand to give the Bruins the lead.

Earlier, Martin and Laura Dibonaventura each came close on several scoring opportunities. The early Crimson pressure racked up the statistics (11 first-half corners to Brown's one) but not the goals, and the first half ended scoreless.

DiBonaventura's performance did signify increased improvement from the Greenwich, Conn. native who started the season on the junior varsity roster. "Laura's been playing well, she really has," MacAusland said. "She's been strong and quite consistent."

If only the consistency would rub off. "I still have complete hope and confidence that my team can beat Princeton, Bridgewater and Yale," MacAusland commented, and it's obvious by the way the stickwomen have played that they can.

But it's also obvious by the way they've played that they can't, and that has been the illness plaguing the Crimson this season. It's nothing that a little consistency won't cure.

THE NOTEBOOK: Elaine Kellogg made her first appearance in the lineup since she injured her leg against Cornell October 12... Forward Sue Field will miss Saturday's game at Princeton because of GMAT's. She'll also miss a home-cooked meal since Princeton is her home town. ...Total stats for the game: Shots--Harvard 9, Brown 6. Corners--Harvard 12, Brown 9. Saves--Harvard 4, Brown 6....Martin, obviously, leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and two assists in 12 games. Field, Chris Sailer, Beth Mullen and Jennifer White have all scored three goals, and White and Sailer have three assists. Maureen Finn has yet to score, but she has picked up seven assists to pace the squad.