NEW HAVEN, Ct.--The Harvard women's soccer team started the weekend early yesterday, enjoying a picnic outing in the country and beating a lackluster Yale squad, 4-1, to highlight the afternoon here.

One has to question the benefits of scheduling the Eli game after both the Ivy and Eastern tournaments but before the Yale weekend. Rationalists might consider the encounter a tune-up for Harvard's upcoming matches next weekend at the AIAW Nationals in Chapel Hill, N.C., but the contest (the result of which has no bearing on anything and was quite predictable) was certainly misplaced.

Yet, the victory, which ups the Crimson's record to 15-1, did give coach Bob Scalise a chance to try some new combinations. Not only did Scalise allow the reserves to lead the attack for most of the contest, but the Harvard mentor made such switches as moving strikers to the back line, fullbacks to the midfield and even goalies to the front line.

Before that scorekeeper's nightmare, striker sensation Kelly Landry gave the Crimson an early 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game. The 15-yd. bullet gives Landry 20 goals for the year, an output which equals Sue St. Louis's record set in the 14-game 1978 season. With at least two games remaining in the booters' season, Landry, who now holds the total points record (20 goals, 7 assists, 27 points), is sure to claim the goals record outright before season's end.

When Landry sat down, fellow attackers--Louy Meachem, up from J.V., Sarah Chubb, Cat Ferrante, Barb Mahon, Joan Gould, and Jenny Rayport--sprayed 30 shots at Yale netminder, Mary Bartlett, three of which ended up in the twines.

With just 36 seconds remaining in the first half, Chubb took a Ferrante header and lofted a 25-yd. rocket which flew just under the crossbar for her first goal of the season and a 2-0 Harvard lead at intermission.

Ferrante, who has been particularly effective in post-season play, parlayed her knack for being in the right place at the right time into her ninth goal of the season and the booters' third of the contest four minutes into the second stanza.

Second-string goalie Mahon, who made one save during the first half in her first start in the nets, got into the action on the other side of the goal box and booted home the Crimson's fourth goal with just 3:02 left in the game.

Third-string goalie Dana Warren handled seven Eli drives in the second half, while Liz "Boomer" Wills once again turned in a strong performance keeping track of the Yale attackers.

THE NOTEBOOK: Soccer fans may be wondering why defending national champion Cortland State did not receive an at-large bid to the Nationals. Cortland defeated UMass, which received a bid, at the Easterns. According to tournament committee chairman and Colorado College coach Steve Paul, Cortland simply failed to request a bid, a procedure it should have known about from the AIAW Soccer Coaches Manual. Cortland coach Ron Hansen, claiming that Cortland never received any information concerning the tournament bids or even a coaches manual, appealed the tournament committee's exclusion of the Red Dragons from the Nationals on Tuesday, the day after the committee announced the seeds. Because a three-member AIAW Appeals Board rejected Thursday the Cortland argument, the Red Dragons will not defend their national title this year. Most of the area coaches attribute the problem to the lack of communication between Hansen and Cortland's Athletic Department administration.