Suddenly, what had unraveled for the Harvard field hockey team in the past was clicking on Saturday. Suddenly, the team (4-4, 2-1 Ivy) rocked back to .500, extended its winning streak to two games and jettisoned the sour results of past contests with a 1-0 thriller over Pennsylvania.
Can't win in overtime? Harvard, which had dropped overtime epics to the University of New Hampshire and Yale, erased that aspersion with just over eight minutes remaining in the second overtime period against Penn.
"We're pretty much prepared for overtime," said junior Judy Collins, who assisted on the winning goal. "We played in lots of overtime games last year and three this year. The positioners know where they have to go."
Just call them the Magnificent Seven.
Can't convert a penalty corner? Sophomore Katie Schoolwerth rejected that claim with style, connecting with Collins' stop for the decisive tally.
"Every part of that corner was really smooth," said co-captain Amy DiMarzio. "It was very well-executed. We had a good hit out by [junior Penny Fairbairn] and a good stop by Judy. Katie connected with it well."
These deviations from past contests portend well for the future.
Nevertheless, the team must continue practicing its corners.
"We get so many corners, but we don't execute them well," Collins said. "In some games, we score over 15. That's unheard of.
"[On Saturday] we definitely got our shots off. But something always breaks down. Whoever [is supposed to stop the shot] doesn't or the hit isn't hard enough."
DiMarzio hopes that the team can build on Schoolwerth's tally.
"It was great to connect on this one shot, but we still need to keep working on it," DiMarzio said. "We had a lot of opportunities.
"The Penn goalie didn't seem like anything exceptional. I don't think we tested her. We should've scored more."
Harvard has tallied just three goals in its two-game winning streak. However, sophomore goaltender Anya Cowan posted her fourth shutout of the year on Saturday against Penn and held Boston University to just one goal last Wednesday.
"Anya saved us against Penn, especially in overtime," said DiMarzio of Cowan, who made 11 saves against Penn. "She had a particularly unbelievable save in overtime, when she went down on the ground, got up and had to clear it herself."
The team began Saturday's game sluggishly.
"We started off kind of slow," While the Crimson grew more intense as the game progressed, fatigue set in during overtime. "At the end, everyone was really tired," Collins said. "We were like, 'Allright, we need to put one in.'" Schoolwerth's tally culminated a struggle both draining and rewarding. "It's really great to win one we should've won," DiMarzio said. The Crimson will now have a mini-break before it sets out on its next challenge. On Friday, the team hopes to extend its winning streak-and possibly its corner success-when it travels to Ithaca to face Cornell. Friday's game poses an added twist, as the team will play on the Big Red artificial turf. This week, Harvard will try to practice on local turf sites. "The speed of a game [on turf] is faster," Collins said. "But I like to think that for every game, we'll be fine if we come ready to play."
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