BRUNSWICK, Me.--You couldn't blame the home team for feeling good during halftime of yesterday's Harvard-Bowdoin field hockey game. After all, the PolarBears, a Division II school with a 2-5 record, had played Harvard to a 1-1 deadlock over the first 35 minutes, exactly matching the Crimson in shots, saves, and corners.

But Bowdoin's cheers didn't last long. Playing without starters Jennifer White and Beth Mullen--both out with leg injuries--Harvard stormed past the Bears in the second half, outshooting them 16-0 and notching two goals for a 3-1 victory, evening its record at 3-3-1.

"The first half was all mental errors," coach Edie MacAusland said after the game. "We were batting the ball in the air, mis-hitting, making illegal passes, and all of these things happened repeatedly. I told them at half-time it was ridiculous and them at half-time it was ridiculous and they got their act together."

MacAusland's chat during intermission bore fruit 27 minutes into the second half, when Kate Martin took an Ann Velie pass, motored past a defender and dumped the ball into the Bowdoin net.

Martin's goal, her seventh of the season, put the Crimson ahead 2-1, and just about a minute later co-captain Chris Sailer made it 3-1 with a drive off a corner for her second goal of the day.

With White injured and Sue Field hobbled with a bad foot, Sailer and Martin combined for most of the Harvard attack, splitting 13 shots on goal between them. Maureen Finn, who earned her fifth and sixth assists of the year on Sailer's goals, chipped in with four attempts, and Maggie Hart--starting her first varsity game--added five.

Four-Cornered

Nevertheless, the four-cornered attack far surpassed Bowdoin's output. The Polar Bears, who did not muster anything resembling an attack in the second half, were limited to six shots on goal on the day by the relentless Harvard pressure.

"The score should have been 7-0, and it would have been if we had got going earlier the way we did in the second half," MacAusland said. "We've proved we can do it."

And for goalie Betty Ippolito, all of that added up to an easy day. She handled four shots in the first half and was called upon to touch the ball only once in the second. THE NOTEBOOK: Mullen's injury has been diagnosed as a pulled quad muscle in her left leg. The freshman standout was forced to miss her first game "in my life."...Field has been plagued by a nagging heel injury, which has hampered her effectiveness as a goal scorer. Because it limits her mobility, she has been unable to build up her stamina enough and tires easily. Yesterday she sat out the first half, but came on for Hart midway through the second... The Crimson entertains Cornell in its Ivy home opener Saturday at 11 a.m. at Soldiers Field. The squad sports an 0-1 league mark after last Saturday's loss to Penn.