Laxwomen Post Win Over Dartmouth; Mleczko Leads Way With Five Goals

The Harvard laxwomen notched their second victory of the week yesterday afternoon, when the Crimson's airtight defence easily contained Dartmouth's shoddy attack to save a 9-5 win.

Sarah Mleczko led the laxwomen with five patented goals.

The Big Green's Nell Goddin grabbed the first goal of the game when she pushed a long bounce shot past Crimson goalie Charlotte Worsley. Offensive standout Karen McKeel then put Dartmouth ahead 2-0, on a short hard shovel shot.

Fired up by the Big Green's tallies, the Crimson stickwomen whipped off three sharp goals to bounce back and grab the lead. Center Julie Cornman led off the barrage with a high shot into the upper right corner of the cage.

Down 3-2, Dartmouth withstood the shadow-like defense and kept feeding the ball to McKeel. Twice in a row McKeel demonstrated her stick mastery by eluding the Crimson's elaborate double-teaming and sending in tallies with her dependable right-handed shovel shot.

First home Lisa Kent pulled Harvard even again, near the end of the half, as she cut right and fired high over the goalie's head. Kent's score brought the contest to a 4-4 stand off at the first half's conclusion.

For the next 25 minutes, the Crimson defense dominated Dartmouth's lackluster attack. Only captain Eleanor Shannon was able to score on the amazing Worsley. The first-year Crimson goalie nabbed 15 saves over the course of the game, 10 of them coming in the last half.

Third man Stefi Baum and cover point Chris Sailer led the rest of the Harvard defense as they foiled the Big Green's offensive thrusts with a series of awesome triple teaming maneuvers.

Cornman was in on the act with keen stickchecking moves which repeatedly forced Dartmouth turnovers and brought the ball back into Crimson hands. Anne Velie lead Harvard's recovery squad with 15 ground ball pick-ups.

Baum ignited the laxwomen when she intercepted a Dartmouth pass, raced toward the goal and fed third home Sarah Mleczko with a quick pass. Mleczko pulled a quick fake and squeezed a shot past the Dartmouth netminder.

This was the impressive junior's second of her quintet of markers.

"We played a good game. It's a big boost for the weekend because we meet Dartmouth in the opening game of the New England Championships on Saturday," center Marcia Goldberg said yesterday.

"Coming off two back to back victories like this, we are shooting for a championship this weekend." Goldberg added.

Seven Division I squads will vie for the coveted title this weekend in New Haven, Conn. Yale is seeded first.