Women Booters Topple Brown in Easterns, 3-1

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--In this case, the last laugh was definitely the best laugh.

The fifth-seeded Harvard women's soccer team rolled to a 3-1 win over fourth-seeded Brown here last night in the opening round of the Eastern regional tournament.

It was the third time the two teams have met this season. The Crimson won 2-1 in overtime in Cambridge and the Bruins came back to knock Harvard out of the Ivy League tournament last weekend, 2-1. But last night was the one that counted.

The win boosts the Crimson into the semifinals of the Eastern tournament, scheduled for Saturday morning at the University of Vermont, where they will meet eight-seeded Cortland State. Cortland State surprised top-seeded Princeton, 2-0, yesterday in New Jersey.

Of the three games that arch-rivals Harvard and Brown have played this season, last night's became the first in which one team really dominated.

"Offensively we played much better than we did against them the last time," Crimson coach Bob Scalise said. "And on defense everyone was covering for everyone else."

For the third ime in the last four games, Crimson freshman striker Joan Elliott put her team on the scoreboard first. The All-Ivy forward launched a corner kick which deflected off one of the Brown fullbacks, off Brown goalie Alex Smith and into the net at 12:37 to give Harvard a 1-0 lead.

For the rest of the first half, Crimson booters continually pressured the Brown defense but failed to convert on any of several good scoring opportunities and the score at intermission stood at 1-0.

Brown came out strong at the start of the second half and at 5:34, speedy winger Debbie Ching almost tied the game up.

But Crimson keeper Ann Diamond, who had an excellent game with a bunch of fine saves, came out to meet the on-rushing Ching, diving to take the ball away. The save seemed to spark the Crimson, as they again took command of the play.

At 28:07, Laura Mayer took a Sue St. Louis pass, carried the ball across the top of the penalty area, turned and let fly with a high drive on net. Smith deflected the ball with her hands, but it dropped in behind her for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

With some of the Harvard players already jumping up and down on the sidelines, freshman midfielder Beth Carillo slid a nice pass to St. Louis in the middle of the area. The co-captain blasted a hard roller to Smith's right and into the net at 41:39, for a little insurance and a lot more jumping up and down.

Brown's Cameron Tuttle, who scored both goals in the Bruin's 2-0 overtime win against Princeton in the Ivy League finals, scored into an open net at 44:19, but it was too little too late.

So while the Crimson will travel to Vermont on Friday with a chance for the Eastern championship, the Bruins will have to be content with sitting in Providence with their Ivy League tournament cup.

Revenge can be so sweet.

THE NOTEBOOK: Because of an error in the Ivy League program it was reported here that Brown's Cheryl Stahl was guilty of some unsportsmanlike play last weekend. The real culprit was Bruin Liza Knapp...Tuttle wished the Crimson booters good luck on the bus before they left Providence. Now that's class.