Berman, smelling blood, bounded over Twaddleand found herself in a one-on-one situation withjunior goalie Sarah Reginio. Berman faked to herright then streaked around Reginio to the left andpoked the ball into the left corner of the net.
"We put ourselves under a lot of fire that wasunnecessary," Reginio said. "We did a lot ofstuff that made them look a lot better. We justneeded to be a lot tighter in the back."
Even on their runs, the Lady Blue Devils rarelyhad sustained control of the ball yesterday, whichled to numerous Crimson breaks. Harvard took 19shots on goal to CCSU's five.
Just over three minutes into the game, Millerbeat her defender down the right sideline to awell-placed ball off Chu's foot. Miller sent across to the center of the field for Foster, wholobbed a clean shot straight into Reginio's arms.
It was a pattern that would repeat itself.Several open shots missed just wide of the goaland several crosses were swung at and barelymissed.
At 23:44, Foster got free on a fast break aftera defender's attempted clear veered off her chest,but her blast from the top of the box wasdeflected by a leaping Reginio. Just secondslater co-captain Devon Bingham sent a ball fromthe right endline screaming towards the front ofthe net. Miller raced in from the left side toredirect, but she tripped over Reginio and managedonly to tap it wide of the net.
The play was one of many that drew cries ofprotest from Wheaton and the crowd over whatappeared to be lax officiating. A total of ninefouls were called on a day in which virtuallyevery drive seemed marred by a player spill.
For her part, Miller collected her reparationsat the end of the first half. With under twominutes to play in the half, a Harvard cornertaken by Stauffer found its way to Berman's foot12 yards out.
Berman sent a shot towards the right post thatReginio blocked just to her left. Literallywaiting in the wings, however, was junior BethZotter, who nudged the ball by the keeper and justin front of the goal where the well-positionedMiller trickled it in.
The Lady Blue Devils almost beat Miller to thescoring column when at 27:15 a ball appeareddestined to squeeze inside the right post after aCCSU corner kick. Several players began tocelebrate but the ball was deflected to the rightby a Crimson defender.
That scoring chance would not be indicative ofCCSU's future. The Harvard keepers--Browning andsenior Jennifer Burney, who entered the game at69:51--did not record a save all game. Harvard'sdefense, which boasts five All-Ivy players, wasstellar as usual.
"I didn't feel we established our passing gametoday," Coleman said. "It's one of the few gamesthis season that we haven't owned the ball."
Harvard's final tally, a rocket into the leftcorner of the CCSU goal at 71:31, was notched byjunior Julia Blain.
The Crimson now finds itself as one of 32, thesame position it was in at the start of lastseason's NCAA Tournament, in which it reached thefinal eight. This year's second-round opponent isno stranger. Harvard lost to Hartford, 1-0, onSept. 16, and Saturday's game at Al-Marzook Fieldshould be another close one.
"We expect a real battle on Saturday, and weenjoy battles--that's what we play for," Wheatonsaid. "The games that go down to the wire andreally get the adrenaline going make it fun, andthat's what we expect on Saturday."
Hopefully for the Crimson, yesterday'ssecond-half offensive explosion proves aharbinger. With its next game against a previousopponent, Harvard will have a chance to showwhether it has truly shed its propensity forcoming up short of the goal.
"Ever since the end of our regular season we'vebeen saying, 'This is a new season and we're goingto turn it around and show everyone that we're theteam that we know we are,"' Bingham said. "Thefact that we scored four goals is reallyencouraging and makes us feel really good, but weknow that's something we still need to work on."