Laxwomen Survive a Wildcat Scare

History always repeats itself. Always.

Last year the Harvard women's lacrosse team earned a gut-wrenching win against the University of New Hampshire, scoring the winning goal in the last two minutes of the game.

This year, the second-ranked Crimson pulled it off again, ousting UNH, 6-5, on a score with only 1:38 left in the game.

Pacemakers should be distributed the next time these two teams meet.

Harvard was in control early, with Karen Everling chalking up a goal four minutes into the contest. But the Wildcats barely gave the Crimson a chance to breathe easy, answering back almost immediately with a tying goal.

But Harvard's Julie Clifford dashed one in the nets and Lynn Frangione peeled by player after player to deliver her own surprise at the goalie's feet.

After Julia French tossed the ball to Cici Clark, who scored with a killer bounce shot with 10:32 left in the first half, the Crimson led, 4-1.

Time was a-ticking and the Crimson was breathing freely.

But the Wildcats' Anne Ensor sent Harvard gasping for breath with a shot into the blue-clogged crease.

The 4-2 halftime Crimson lead was too close for comfort.

Take Charge

UNH took the initiative in the second stanza with a goal in the first five minutes while the Harvard attack passed and played but just couldn't stick the ball in the net.

Char Joslin gave the team a sigh of relief, plowing through four Wildcats for a goal at 18:22.

But, UNH took advantage of two free-throw positions to tie the score, 5-5.

Panic time, but not to worry, it's time for the Kelly Dermody Show.

Dermody made a breathtaking save with 4:40 remaining in the game, and the senior goaltender stole another shot one minute later.

With less than three minutes left, the Wildcats were desperate--their final gasp hit the goal post off a free throw and Dermody snagged the rebound.

"UNH is a really tough team and they had a couple of good players that came at us really hard," Dermody said.

"But I thought there were some questionable calls around the crease that gave them a little bit more of an edge than they should have had," Dermody added. "They had a lot of penalty shots and that made it tough."

Everling threw a stick-switch to punch a hole in the defense and tally the winning goal with 1:38 showing on the clock. And the fans breathed the proverbial collective sigh of relief.

After Wednesday's 8-4 victory over the University of Massachusetts, Harvard was happy to have survived this game, with both UMass and UNH having a reputation for extremely physical play.

"UMass and UNH always give us fits," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "And when you have back-to-back games, it's hard to get up for every game."

Co-Captain Katie McAnaney tried to explain Harvard's offensive confusion against the aggressive Wildcats' pressure.

"We have to find an attack when we're under pressure," McAnaney said. "We rush the ball and don't take the shots we want and, as a result, we let them dominate the ball."

The well-needed upcoming week of practice should help the Crimson practice for such physical play which alters its own style of play.

"We're going to have to learn to control the tempo of the game rather than let the other team take us out of it," McAnaney said.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard takes a breather until Saturday, when it hosts Vermont at 1 p.m. at Ohiri Field...The Crimson, which advanced to the Final Four last season, is currently sitting in second place behind Penn State in the national rankings.