The best things in life are free.

For junior striker Britton Arico of the University of Connecticut women's soccer team, they are also direct. Arico netted two direct free kicks to power the Huskies' 2-0 victory over Harvard yesterday at Ohiri Field.

Harvard (2-5-1 overall, 1-1 Ivy) came into the contest winless in its last five games, having last tasted victory September 19 against New Hampshire. UConn (10-1-2 overall), on the other hand, was the nation's fourth-ranked team.

Still, the underdogs played the Huskies tough, holding them without a shot on goal through the first 30 minutes of the game. But then Arico slid a through-pass to linemate Kristin Janosky.

Janosky dribbled towards Crimson goaltender Beth Reilly, with Harvard Co-Captain Andrea Montalbano in hot pursuit. Reilly charged. Montalbano slid. Janosky fell. The whistle blew.

To the dismay of the 100 fans on hand (including President Derek Bok), Arico drilled the subsequent penalty shot into the corner of the Crimson cage for a 1-0 advantage.

"I didn't trip the girl in the box," Montalbano said afterwards. "I thought about tripping her, but I didn't do it. The ref was awful. I think he was looking to call something. A good ref would have known that if I was going to trip her, I'd do it at the 12, not the four."

The Crimson responded to the controversial goal with its strongest offensive surge of the game, initiated by Montalbano's free kick from the right flank. The senior sweeper lobbed a perfect crossbar to forward Kari Morioka, whose flick-header ricocheted off the crossbar. Midfielder Sue Carls had a shot blocked in the penalty area. Forward Robin Johnston had a volley deflected over the bar. And halfback Tracey Hackeling headed Carls' ensuring corner kick just wide of the near post.

Harvard kept the pressure on before halftime. Halfback Chris Biggs dusted a defender, drove to the baseline and nailed a perfect cross to Johnston, whose header sailed over the goal. Then Johnston unloaded a shot from 20 yards that UConn keeper Amy Miller handled cleanly. At intermission, Harvard still trailed, with no goals and plenty of missed opportunities to its credit. The Crimson never threatened again.

Great Britton

UConn came out firing in the second half, with Arico doing most of the trigger-pulling.

First, she intercepted a Montalbano back-pass to Reilly, but the Crimson goalie threw herself at the All-New England forward's feet to prevent a goal. Arico followed by tackling the ball away from Montalbano for another breakaway, but rifled the ball wide. Arico threatened once again minutes later when she found herself open in the Crimson penalty area, but Reilly charged 15 yards out of the net to smother yet another shot.

The fourth time around, Arico sealed the victory. After another Harvard tripping foul just outside the box, she deftly curled the free kick over the defensive wall and under the crossbar for her 11th goal of the season.

"They were a physical team, but we got the calls," Arico said. "They gave us a lot of trouble in the first half, but we started to click as a team much better in the second."

Assessing the Damage

Holding the number-four team in the nation to two re-start goals bodes well for the resumption of its Ivy League schedule. Harvard's four-game losing streak and six-game winless streak will mean nothing Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y., when the Crimson faces Cornell.

"I was really pleased with our performance," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "We talked before the game about playing 90 minutes of good, hard soccer, win or lose, and we did that today. If we do it against Cornell, we should be in good shape."

UConn, 2-0 at Ohiri Field UConn  1-1--2 HARVARD  0-0--0

Goals--C, Britton Arico (unassisted), 31:20; C, Arico (unassisted), 56:40.

Saves--C, Amy Miller 3, Wendy Logan 0; H, Beth Reilly 4, Kristy Cox 1.