The odds had to catch up with Harvard women's soccer coach Bob Scalise eventually. After all those wins which had piled up since the team's inception in 1977, the losses had to come sooner or later. And 1981 appeared to be the year to make Humpty Dumpty proud. The losses started rolling in long before the season even started.

First, seniors Sue St. Louis, Gia Johnson, Sara Fischer, Wendy Sonnabend and Kerry Bryan were lost to graduation. Three four-year starters and two super subs, gone. Visiting student Laurie Gregg, after a spectacular one-year stay, left for the soccer fields of the University of North Carolina. Gone. Senior-to-be Sue Rockwell, the team's best pure defensive player; Joan Elliott, the top freshman scorer of last season; and Ann Diamond, the starting goalkeeper as a freshman for much of last year, all decided to take 1981 off. Three more starters, gone. A week into preseason practice, sophomore Beth Carillo, a projected starter, went down with a knee injury. That's seven if you're counting. Makes for a long paragraph.

And yet--tell Ripley about it if you want--Harvard women's soccer still lives. If early season play is any indication, still thrives.

It was business as usual yesterday at the Business School Field, as the Crimson knocked off Tufts, 2-0. And although the score was identical to that of last year's encounter in Medford, and although the Jumbos played very much the same sort of game--a boring sort of defense quite accurately described as "the sag"--it was a very different Harvard team from that of a year ago.

The first change is obvious from a distance. The Crimson now plays a much more skilled, ball-control, type of play. Rather than rushing the ball upfield, the team passes back, sets up plays, and works the ball to the wings. Confidence oozes out of this style of soccer, with its we're-in-control, you-come-and-take-it-away attitude.

As you move closer to the field, familiar faces come into view. Co-captain Cat Ferrante, out wide on the left side of the field, and junior Laura Mayer playing bookend on the right. Juniors Kelly Gately and Jeannie Piersiak anchoring the fullback line. Senior Ellen Jakovic, out nearly all of last season with a broken foot, in a new position on the fullback line. Janet Judge, who started at the end of last year, now firmly entrenched in the goal. But there are new faces as well.

The Five Freshmen.

Striker Kelly Landry leads the team with five goals through the first three games. Striker Alicia Carillo, a natural midfielder, has set up several of Landry's tallier and added two of her own. Inga Larson adds control and a booming kick to the midfield. Jenny Greeley practically is the midfield all by herself, dominating play by being everywhere the ball is, with authority. And Debbie Field, at center fullback, takes all the direct and corner kicks ("the best we've had since Julie Brynteson"--Scalise) and solidifies the defense.

Scalise gives raves to all of them, individually and as a group. "All of the freshmen have excellent skills. They show good leadership, they communicate well, and they all control the ball very well," the coach says.

The names may have been changed, but the Harvard women's soccer story is still the same.