"Emily is an outstanding player, but fortunately our team wasn't based around her," said captain Rebe Glass. "It wasn't all balancing on whether Emily had a good game or a bad game."
Stauffer's absence would no doubt be a tremendous distraction at best, an enormous loss at worst. And early in the season, it appeared that Harvard would indeed have to weather the storm of a lackluster season while it waited for its superstar to return.
Despite winning four of its first five games, Harvard struggled to find an offensive rhythm and had problems tallying goals. Three of its victories were 1-0 finals in which it failed to capitalize on numerous scoring chances. And following a disappointing 1-1 tie with cross-town rival Boston College, Harvard dropped its first Ivy contest of the year in heartbreaking fashion to Yale, falling 3-2 in overtime.
"Our talent, heart and desire were still there," said junior defender Brynne Zuccaro. "Although things hadn't gone our way, we felt we had complete control of our destiny."
With the loss to the Elis fresh in its memory, the Crimson embarked on a three-game stretch versus top-15 opponents in a five-day span that would test the team's true abilities. Harvard followed a respectable 1-1 tie with then-No. 11 George Mason by convincingly defeating the No. 14 Maryland Terrapins, 3-1. But just when it appeared that Harvard hadfound its championship form of the past, a trip toNo. 9 Connecticut resulted in a 5-0 spanking thathad Harvard fans questioning the remainder of theseason. The Crimson soon showed there was no cause forconcern. Harvard's disappointing loss to theHuskies served as a wake-up call, and the teamproceeded to close out its regular season with asix-game winning streak to capture its thirdconsecutive Ivy League championship and earn itsthird NCAA Tournament berth in four years. "We started out a bit rough in the beginning ofthe season, but we definitely picked up momentum,"said freshman defender Brooke McCarthy. A pair of 1-0 decisions over Penn andConnecticut were sandwiched between Harvard's twolargest Ivy offensive explosions, a 3-1 win atCornell and a 6-1 embarrassment of Princeton onOhiri Field. One week after thrashing the Tigers, theCrimson claimed a share of the league title with a1-0 victory at Dartmouth, and seven days later,Harvard secured its third straight outright Ivycrown by downing Brown, 2-1. It was back to NCAAsfor the Crimson, and it was time for somelong-awaited payback. Harvard faced UMass in the first round of theTournament for the third time in four years. In1994 the Minutewomen made quick work of theCrimson with a 3-0 win, and last year UMass hadwrenched Harvard's soul with a 2-1, tripleovertime victory. But 1997 would be different. "It was awesome to play UMass because we feltlike last year's game didn't end up the way it wassupposed to," said sophomore defender Gina Foster."Also, when our team made it to the NCAAs [in1994], we also lost to UMass, so going into ithaving lost to them twice really pumped us up." Behind the boisterous support of its homecrowd, Harvard left no doubt as to who was thebetter team. A pair of goals by Aeschliman, whobegan the season on the junior varsity squad, andspectacular defense from sophomore sweeper JessicaLarson and sophomore goalkeeper Anne Browning ledHarvard to the 2-0 win and into the second roundof the postseason tourney for the first time since1984. The rest, as they say, is history. Several Harvard players garnered individualaccolades following the season. In addition to herIvy Player of the Year honor, Miller was alsonamed to the All-Ivy First Team for the thirdstraight year. She led Harvard in goals (seven),assists (11) and points (25), and she was also theIvy League leader in assists. Miller was joined on the All-Ivy First Team byFoster and junior midfielder Devon Bingham.Browning, Larson, captain Rebe Glass and sophomoreforward Beth Zotter were all Second-Team All-Ivyselections. But Harvard's 1997 campaign will be rememberedfor the glory these players achieved as a unit.They proved they had the talent to win and to gofurther than anyone believed they could, and theydemonstrated the heart of those who, win or lose,always leave the field as champions.