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Yale Sneaks Past F. Hockey

Her older sister, Francie '94, earned acclaim as a member of Harvard's Silver Anniversary field hockey team. Her twin sister, Hillary, earned a spot on the current Crimson edition. That left Yale freshman Amanda Walton searching for a way to make her own impact. YALE  3 HARVARD  2

Unfortunately for Harvard (2-4, 1-1 Ivy), Amanda gave last weekend's episode of The Waltons a happy ending for Yale. After a rousing Crimson rally from a two-goal deficit and an inspiring initial assault in overtime, Walton scored the decisive tally to give Yale (4-1, 1-1) a 3-2 win.

"I give both teams credit," said Yale Coach Marisa Didio. "Harvard is a very fine team, and they had opportunities to put us away. There were a lot of situations where they just missed."

Indeed, Harvard was ruing those lost chances, many of which came on penalty corners.

"We should have put a lot of those corners in," said junior back Katie Schoolwerth. "It's a matter of getting a good, solid shot off. We were good on initial shots, but we could've taken advantage of rebounds."

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Early on, though, the Crimson had more pressing concerns. Yale junior Sue Barnes opened the scoring in the seventh minute of play, giving the visitors a lead they would maintain into the half.

After the interlude, Harvard responded with a flurry of corners--a harbinger. Unfortunately, the Crimson couldn't convert any of them--another harbinger.

"Our stops were good, but we weren't getting our shots off well," said co-captain Judy Collins. "It's something we need to work on. [Yale goalie Courtney Lane's] clears weren't that good."

The frustration seemed to continue when Yale sophomore Christine Anthony scored to make it 2-0. Yet this goal galva- nized the Crimson.

"There was a sense of urgency," Collins said."We were down by two with 23 minutes left. We hadto hurry things up."

Two minutes later, senior Penny Fairbairnproved money in the bank for Harvard, cutting thelead to 2-1. Even better, the goal came on one ofthose pesky penalty situations. It seemed that theCrimson had finally turned the corner.

After a timeout with 10 minutes to play,Harvard heightened its forays into Yale territory.And finally, its tenacity was rewarded whensophomore Maisa Badawy shot a long, gracefulellipse--her first career goal--into the Eli netto make it 2-2.

"We stepped it up and regained our composure,"said Harvard Coach Sue Caples. "We showed mentaltoughness, which is a positive sign and somethingto build on."

Harvard sought to cap this foundation withstrong and sustained sorties in overtime, but Yaledid not yield. Harvard received more corners thanan icosahedron, but could not shape them intovictory.

"We threw off a little bit of their momentum onthe corners," Didio said. "Our rusher disruptedtheir rhythm, and we used different defensivecorners the whole game."

"We got corners off; it was just a matter oftiming," Caples said. "[Lane] was just getting onthem. It's a game of inches."

Yale illustrated this principle during thegame's decisive moments. The Elis could onlymuster one shot to the Crimson's four in overtime,but that one shot was all it needed.

Although the outcome was bittersweet forHarvard, both teams were satisfied with theirperformance.

"You never play a perfect game, but we did anice job on our general attack," Caples said."It's too bad the outcome wasn't what we werehoping for."

"Both teams really fought their hearts out,"Didio said. "Everyone was pretty spent afterward.That's a great feeling as an athlete."

Before the victors departed, Amanda Walton wasgreeted by 10 friends from St. Paul's, where sheand Hillary Walton had played as teammates.

However, competing against her sister wasnothing new. Amanda Walton has always playedoffense while her twin has always played defense,and the two have practiced against each other.

The Waltons were not the only competing sistersin Saturday's game. Judy and Lori Collins, thelatter a Yale sophomore, played on opposing teamsfor the first time. Lori Collins was on the Yaleteam last year, but did not see action versusHarvard.

"I always look forward to this game, because Iknow Judy will be on the field," Lori Collinssaid. "There's definitely a competitivenessbetween us."

As teammates, the Collins sisters won a statechampionship for Walpole High. When Judy Collinsleft for Harvard, Lori Collins helped guide theRebels to two more Massachusetts crowns.

Amanda and Hillary Walton had discussed thepossibility of competing against each other foreight years. When it came time to choose colleges,possibility became reality.

"We thought it was sort of time for us to moveto separate places," said Hillary, who has playedwith Amanda since the fifth grade. The two havealso played together in lacrosse.

This year, the distance between them isconsiderable--except for Saturday, when mereinches separated the two.

"We smiled at each other," Hillary recalled."It got pretty intense out there. That pushed bothof us harder."

Unfortunately for Harvard, Amanda provided thefinal push.

YALE, 3-2, OTat Cumnock FieldYale  1  1  1  --  1Harvard  0  2  0  --  2

ScoringYale--Barnes (Anthony) 1:25.Yale--Anthony (unassisted) 36:08.Har--Fairbairn (Schoolwerth) 38:26.Har--Badawy (Schoolwerth) 54:19.Yale--Walton (unassisted) 68:27.Saves: Yale--Lane 17; Har--Cowan 17.

CrimsonKathleen M. O'TooleBULLY: An Eli defender (R) attemptsto steal the ball during yesterday's 3-2 Yaleovertime win at Cumnock Field.

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