On a field drenched even worse than the Cambridge streets, the Harvard field hockey team (6-8, 2-3 Ivy) lost to No. 5 Princeton on Saturday.

"We were going to have a tough fight with them regardless, but the weather made things more difficult," said cocaptain Amy DiMarzio. "It was harder to push the ball and make passes through puddles. But we both had to play through it."

However, the worsening conditions made the second half more difficult.

"People were getting cold, and the rain was intensifying," DiMarzio said. "Things just kind of fell apart a little bit."

Harvard allowed just one goal in the first half, but surrendered two more in the second. Just three minutes after intermission, Princeton's Christine Hunsicker scored her first goal of the year.

Amy MacFarlane, who had tallied Princeton's first goal, scored her second goal of the game on a Molly O'Malley assist.

Princeton might have scored one more goal, but sophomore goalie Anya Cowan thwarted a penalty stroke in the second half keeping the score at only 2-0.

"It was a pressure situation, and [another Princeton goal] would have made it that much worse," said junior Judy Collins.

The Tigers concentrated the bulk of their efforts against Cowan in the first half, bombarding her with 15 shots. However, Cowan stopped all but one and finished the day with a 17-save performance.

"Anya always rises to the occasion and puts forth her best effort," DiMarzio said. "We definitely didn't help her out as much as we should have."

Princeton, which launched 22 shots, held Harvard to just three.

"We had a few corner chances, but we were just not on offense altogether too much," DiMarzio said.

The Princeton strategy of using short passes was more successful than Harvard's use of long balls.

"We were trying to hit long balls, but in the mud and the rain, they weren't going through," Collins said.

While both teams seemed equal in speed, Princeton frequently out-pursued Harvard to the ball.