Laxwomen Out-Man Red

Defense. Solid man-to-man defense.

The Harvard women's lacrosse team defeated Cornell, 14-2, yesterday, with quick passing and a stingy defense.

"We couldn't generate any offense," Cornell Coach Cheryl Wolf said.

"Our defense was very good," Coach Carole Kleinfelder said.

Goalie Kelly Dermody agreed. "The defense made it really easy on us," Dermody said.

On the opposite end of the field, Harvard (6-2 overall, 3-0 Ivy) encountered a zone defense from Cornell (3-5, 1-4).

"Our defense made Harvard work hard," Wolf said.

"Cornell had a good zone defense," Kleinfelder said. "We should have had quicker passing to get to the backside. The passing on some goals was great."

Several times, a Crimson attacker would feed a pinpoint pass to a cutting teammate right on the crease. Senior Co-Captain Cindi Ersek scored four goals, classmate Kate Felsen had three goals and two assists and sophomore Char Joslin tallied a hat trick with an assist.

Co-Captain Leelee Groome put Harvard on top in the first half with an unassisted goal. Joslin scored her first goal on a penalty shot to extend the lead to two. A few minutes later, Cornell's Ellen Graap picked up the ball in the defensive end and took it coast-to-coast, putting it by Dermody with 16:03 left in the first half.

The Big Red would never get that close the rest of the game. After Ersek hit a penalty shot, Groome thread the needle to Karen Everling, who put the Crimson ahead, 4-1.

Three minutes later, Felsen fed a cutting Ersek on the crease. Ersek quick-sticked it by Cornell netminder Beth Paciello. With 10:08 remaining in the half, Graap scored a lay-up to pull the Big Red within three.

Dermody (who finished with six saves) and her defense shut the door for the next 35 minutes, Meanwhile, Harvard scored nine goals en route to extending its winning streak to four.

Felsen rounded out the first half barrage by netting a shot after fighting through four Cornell defenders.

After Joslin scored her second goal to start the second half, Felsen again dodged four Big Red players and scored a shot from the crease. Thirty seconds later, she found Ersek alone on the crease after a beautiful cut. The connection raised the margin to 9-2. Ersek then made another cut, this time catching a pass from Joslin and scoring her fourth and final goal.

Sophomore Nicole DeHoratius made it 11-2. Freshman Tory Fair fed Katie McAnaney with 7:55 remaining to play. Felsen and Joslin then completed their hat tricks to round out the scoring.

Felsen continues to lead Harvard in scoring with 24 goals and nine assists for 33 points. Joslin is second (18-6--24).

The Crimson will entertain a South Australian All-Star team this afternoon at Soldiers Field. "It should be really tough, but fun," Dermody said. "Temple [the top ranked team in the nation] beat them 6-4. Our game against Temple was a disappointment, so it will be interesting to see how we do against a team that gave Temple a good game."

Harvard's main obstacle toward another Ivy championship will probably be Dartmouth. The teams tied for the league title last year. This year's showdown is slated for April 26 in Hanover, N.H.

"Harvard and Dartmouth play two entirely different games," said Wolf, whose team fell to the Big Green, 9-3, Saturday. "Dartmouth runs more, while Harvard capitalizes on quick sticks and pinpoint passes. It will be an interesting game."