The unthinkable happened--the Harvard women's soccer team yielded a goal yesterday.

The unfortunate happened--freshman defender Jaime Chu injured her knee in the second half.

But the usual also happened--the Crimson crushed its opponent.

Harvard (5-0-0, 1-0-0 Ivy) cruised to a 4-1 victory over Columbia (2-3-0, 0-1-0) at Ohiri Field in the first round of the Harvard Invitational tournament. Up 1-0 late in the first half, the Crimson scored two goals in a 1:08 span to put this contest out of reach, as it has done to every other opponent so far.

And in so doing, Harvard partially avenged a distressing 2-2 tie against Columbia last year, a game that eventually prevented the Crimson from sharing the Ivy League title.

"We were trying not to make the same mistake," said sophomore midfielder Emily Stauffer, who scored Harvard's first goal and set up the second. "This was the first step towards the Ivy title, which is what we're really after."

The Crimson was far from perfect yesterday. It wasn't so much that Harvard's season-long shutout of 425 minutes and 39 seconds came to an end, but Harvard committed several turnovers and again didn't take the best shots when it could.

However, the players got the job done early and allowed the Lions very few good touches in the opening 45 minutes.

"The first half was very satisfying," co-captain Sara Noonan said. "We controlled the play--we defended as we wanted and attacked as we wanted."

Columbia did hold its own over the first part of the opening period, but goalkeeper Dana Jones (15 saves) committed a crucial error. Harvard co-captain Susie DeLellis sent a shot from about 40 yards out, which Jones dropped.

Stauffer, who just so happened to be standing next to Jones, calmly tapped the ball into the mesh to put Harvard up on top.

The second goal, however, was a work of beauty. Freshman Ashley Marynick sent Stauffer a pass down the right side of the field. Stauffer zoomed by the Lion defender and crossed the ball to freshman Devon Bingham, who drilled it into the upper left portion of the goal with 6:23 left in the half.

"I just cut around behind the defense, and Devon Bingham made a great run so I could cut it back towards her against the grain," Stauffer said. "She made a great shot."

When it rains it pours. And it was raining yesterday at Ohiri, and the Crimson poured on the pressure for a quick third goal, courtesy of a beautiful pass from Marynick, which freshman Naomi Miller headed into the net.

And goal number four came only 10:39 after intermission, when sophomore Kristen Bowes redirected junior Dana Tenser's shot through Jones's wickets.