"Losing didn't become such a weight on the team that playing was a burden," Stringer said. "This team had a special team dynamic, and despite our record, it was still fun."

Several individual performances stand out. In addition to Collins' First-Team selection, junior midfielder Tara LaSovage and sophomore goalie Anya Cowan won Second-Team All-Ivy accolades.

Cowan showed no signs of a sophomore slump after her magnificent rookie campaign, as she posted the second-best goals-against-average in the Ivies (1.17) and led the league in save percentage in league games (.875).

Several newcomers made important contributions, including freshman Kathryn Nagle, junior Caroline Johnston--who finished second on the team in scoring--and freshman Elizabeth Sarles, who along with co-captain Beck Stringer helped anchor a defense that had to cope with the loss of several graduates, including star sweeper Daphne Clark '97.

Harvard can expect to see many changes in the coming year, as it prepares to leave Cumnock Field for a new artificial turf field, which began construction in March. The field will not be ready for the start of the 1998 season, but it will take some time to prepare for so radical a change in playing surface.

"[Turf] will definitely make us more competitive," said Assistant Coach Gretchen Scheuermann. "The game is much faster, more fluid and you have better control."

Most field hockey programs have made the move to turf already, and Harvard did not win a game on turf until it beat Brown, 3-1, on the last day of the season. It was just the team's second road win.

Harvard graduates only two players, Stringer and DiMarzio, and most of the returning players have seen both good and bad seasons. With Collins and Cowan both back to lead a team with one more year of experience under its belt, there is reason to believe that next season the ball actually could bounce Harvard's way.

"This season was definitely disappointing," Collins said. "Still, it shows us what we need to do for next year. If we work hard, we will have a good team. It's just a matter of capitalizing."