It's unprecedented unlikely and just short of unimaginable. Nonetheless, the Harvard field hockey team has became the favorite to capture the Ivy championship and the accompanying berth in the NCAA tournament.

Now, halfway through the league season, the Crimson became the only squad with an unblemished Ivy record Saturday when Harvard slipped past Dartmouth, 2-1, at Soldiers Field.

"The Ivies are ours," junior center back Ellen O'Neill said after the game.

The Crimson, ranked 20th nationally, has never won an Ivy title or an NCAA berth.

Last year the Crimson fell just short of a tournament bid, but the loss to graduation of Co-Captain Maureen Finn and leading scorers Kate Martin and Jennifer White made the Harvard field hockey picture blurry at best. Only three seniors returned to the Crimson lineup.

"Last year we expected a lot," O'Neill said. "This year we didn't know what to expect."

And when Harvard opened the season with a 7-0 defeat to Northwestern and lost two of its next three games, people started expecting the worst.

But a shutout of Boston University and a 3-1 decision over Ivy powerhouse Pennsylvania turned things around, and three games later the Crimson finds itself the team to beat.

Dartmouth put up quite a fight to do just that Saturday. The ball stayed in the Harvard end for most of the first half, but some fine saves by goalie Juliet Lamont and a sharp defense, led by O'Neill and senior Beth Mullen, kept Dartmouth scoreless.

But the first half wasn't scoreless, as the Crimson took the lead against the tide of play. O'Neill drove a penalty from just outside the circle, the ball wound its way through a gagle of Dartmouth defenders, and sophomore Bambi Taylor slapped it past Big Green not-minder Teri Parrott.

The goal was the first allowed by Parrott in Ivy play this year. Considered one of the best in the nation, Parrott get little chance to show it in the first half. Dartmouth get five penalty corners before intermission: Harvard got none.

The second half was more even, with Dartmouth still getting the slight edge in mid-field play. But Dartmouth's pressure finally paid off when sophomore Nicki Demakis fired a bullet past Lamont to the far post on a penalty corner 16 minutes into the second half.

In the Bag

Overtime seemed a sure thing as neither squad mounted serious scoring threats for the next 12 minutes. But a penalty corner 25 minutes into the half gave Harvard the chance it needed.

Everybody touched the ball, and Parrott made at least three solid saves. When the ball finally came out of the penalty circle, junior Pat Constantikes pushed it right back in. Sophomore Linda Runyon finished things off, and as the ball bounced off the backboard the Crimson celebration began.

Dartmouth had several chances in the final 10 minutes, but alert play by left back Toby Carroll and the rest of the defense preserved the Harvard victory.

"This was the best I've ever seen a team play for me." Harvard Coach Edie Mabrey said.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard takes on UMass Wednesday at Amherst...The stick women must down Princeton, Brown and Yale to be assured of the Ivy title.