10-0 Laxwomen Nail UMass

The Harvard women's lacrosse team--ranked second in the nation behind Penn State--met its first serious threat of the season head-on Saturday, handing a sixth-ranked squad from UMass its first loss while keeping its own unbeaten streak intact.

The hard-fought 6-5 battle was a new experience for the laxwomen, who have grown accustomed this year to blowing opponents away--with scores like 22-2 against Springfield and 12-2 against Boston College--on their way to building their 10-0 record.

But Harvard knew the Minutemen were not pushovers, and went into the game prepared. "Our mood before the game was intense, not tense." Maureen Finn, one of the Crimson's top scorers, said after the game, adding that "even though the score was close, there was no way we were going to let them beat us."

Finn scored three times and was high scorer in the victory--Harvard's first-ever over UMass.

But if there was no way the laxwomen were going to let UMass win, there was no way at all that the Minutemen were going to let Harvard waltz back to Cambridge without a fight.

It was obvious from the start. With just a minute gone in the first period. UMass jumped to an early lead on an unassisted blast from attacker Whitney Thayer.

Although Harvard answered just 11 seconds later on an unassisted tally by senior Kerry Bryan, the Crimson offense did not click in the early going. Responding poorly to double-teaming by the Minutemen, the laxwomen displayed some uncharacteristically sloppy passing, giving up turnovers and missing open players.

At 22:09, UMass jumped out in front again, this time on a tally by Sue Caples.

Finn responded a minute later with the first of her goals, on an unassisted field-length breakaway. But Harvard couldn't keep up any kind of sustained attack and allowed UMass to take the lead again on a Margie Anderson shot off a pretty pass from Thayer over the heads of the Crimson defenders.

Harvard's goal scorer, Francesca Den Hartog, kept the seesaw effect going, knocking in her only goal of the game on a blistering free shot attempt midway through the half.

Sophomore attacker Jenny White put Harvard ahead for the first time in the game on an unassisted tally--her ninth of the season--after a beautiful 20-yd. rush past several defenders.

At this point, the Crimson offense had begun to gel as passes started to connect and as UMass began to slow down a bit. But Harvard was still unable to keep the pressure on long enough to put the game out of reach, and the Minutemen tied the score at 4-4 just before the half.

In the second half Finn and UMass's Thayer traded goals in the early going, but the rest of the period slowed down and the game became a tough defensive battle.

Standouts for the Crimson defense were co-captain Ann Velie and sophomore Jeanne Piersiak, who turned away several Minutemen rushes, and goalie Charlotte Worsley, who is riding the season on a 64-per-cent saves average.

With only 3:19 remaining in the contest, Finn broke the grueling defensive battle with her hat trick score to give the Crimson the win.