PRINCETON, N.J.--Situation: You're the Harvard women's soccer team, in second place in the lvies, and you're facing near-cellar dweller Princeton on a balmy Saturday afternoon down in western New Jersey.

Should be an easy win, right?

Problem: You're tied at 0-0 late in the second half, and the Tigers have just missed scoring the go-ahead goal.

Sounds like a Rolaids situation, doesn't it?

Nah, just another day in the office for freshman Keren Gudeman, whose goal with 1:41 left in regulation spelled RELIEF for the Crimson (7-2-2 overall, 4-0-1 Ivy) in a 1-0 win.

Gudeman's tally made up for many lost offensive chances by Harvard in a game that Princeton (4-7-0, 1-4-0) was able to stay in for a very long time and almost win despite the gap in overall talent.

"It was a relief," Gudeman said. "We definitely should have scored more goals--it wasn't going our way today."

The winning play started with 1:50 to go in the second half. Junior Susie DeLellis gained control of the ball at midfield and lofted a pass ahead to the Tiger 18-yard box, past all players but Tiger goalie Kristin Alyea.

Gudeman charged towards the ball, while Alyea came out of her net in an attempt to get to the ball first. However, Gudeman stuck her foot out and got the tip of her cleat on the ball a split second before Alyea could make contact with the ball, and the orb trickled through the box and wound up in the Princeton net.

"Princeton is a much improved team," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "They played a hard game, but we were finally able to break through at the end."

The Crimson did not play too sharply in the offensive zone most of the time. Harvard generated numerous scoring chances, especially in the second half, but it came up empty, often the result of poor shot selection.

The players either held onto the ball for too long and were forced into weak shots, or they took shots from the top of the outer box when they had semi-breakaways--those shots went right into Alyea's hands.

Another factor that worked twice against the Crimson was every goal-tender's best friend--the plastic/metallic components of the goal.

With 10 minutes to go in the first half, freshman Emily Stauffer--playing with a cast on her broken wrist--sent a pass to freshman Kristen Bowes, but the crossbar got in the way of a Harvard score.

And senior Libby Eynon doinked one off the left post after making a great rush downfield with 10 minutes left in the second half.