Revenge is sweet.

The Harvard field hockey team (3-4 overall; 1-1 Ivy) replaced the painful memories of last year's 8-1 loss to B.U. with pleasant ones yesterday, as they sailed smoothly to a solid 2-1 victory.

"This was a very big win for us," said coach Sue Caples. "Harvard and B.U.-it's a pretty intense rivalry. Our team stepped up to the challenge and competed, and we put ourselves in a position to win."

And win they did.

"We've been in kind of a slump lately," said sophomore Katie Schoolwerth, "so it was definitely a great win for us."

The victory, which ended Harvard's two game losing streak, witnessed the Crimson's successfully reinvigorated game strategy.

"We made some on-field adjustments during the course of the game," Caples said. "There's still room for improvement, but we had good presence out there. We competed on every ball and we made good decisions."

Perhaps the biggest contribution toward the much-needed win came in the form of the team's tremendous improvement on offense. Clean passing combinations and strategic planning characterized the majority of the 70 minute effort although neither of Harvard's goals resulted from these plays.

On the first goal, co-captain Amy DiMarzio picked up a loose ball in the crease to put Harvard on the board with 18:44 remaining in the first half.

Minutes into the second half, DiMarzio struck again, knocking home a second goal and increasing Harvard's lead to 2-0.

For a team that has been held scoreless in three of their first seven games, these goals were vital, both for the win and for the moral of the team.

"It was important for us to get our confidence back," Caples said. "This is a talented team and we have been frustrated by our inability to capitalize on opportunities, so it was good to go on a 2-0 lead against a team like B.U., a perennial national contender. This was a really big win."

Solid defense complimented the scoring strategies of the Crimson.

Aggressive and unyielding, the team allowed the opposition very few shots on goal, and kept close control of the ball throughout the game.

"Our defense has been pretty consistent this year," Schoolwerth said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of shutting them down."

They did indeed. B.U. scored only once during the contest, knocking home a goal with 14:53 left in the second half.

The team, full of renewed confidence, faces their next challenge this Saturday against Penn.

"With this win we can go strong into Penn," Caples said. "We can relax and play, and I think you'll even see a quicker team, a quicker first step on Saturday."

"I think we're all pretty excited to play Penn," Schoolwerth added. "We definitely are capable of beating them."

With yesterday's contest resulting in sweet revenge, a victory Saturday against an Ivy opponent would be sweeter still.