Laxwomen Crown Loyola, 12-6

The Harvard women's lacrosse team defended its Yankee pride and its undefeated record yesterday against 10th-ranked Loyola, the highly-touted Southern team, in a 12-6 pounding at Soldiers Field.

The win most likely assures the Crimson of a spot in the top six of the national rankings and a ticket to the NCAA championships. Harvard will also be exempted from having to play in the ECAC tournament.

Southern Shelling

The Southern belt has claimed a monopoly on the "true-grit" of women's lacrosse teams for the past few years.

For the Crimson, just scheduling the game took guts, but actually winning the game took more.

The usual impregnable defensive wall and the more-stellar-than-usual sharp-shooting of the attack line sparked Harvard's victory.

Maggie Vaughan, Julia French, Lynn Frangione and Co-Captain Katie McAnancy teamed up to counter the speed of the Lady Greyhound's offense, bullying them out of the shooting fan and taunting them with interceptions.

While the Crimson's defense sent Loyola in circles, the Crimson's offense raged onto the scene with four goals in the first five minutes of the game.

Char Joslin netted her third hattrick of the season in the game, which is, in itself, a hat-trick of sorts.

Joslin started the hysteria less than two minutes into the game, and McAnaney, French and Julie Clifford laughed all the way to the goal,

For the fifth goal, Vaughan recovered the ball for Harvard, and Joslin reeled it to Karen Everling, who placed the ball in its final destination--the upper corner of the goal.

The Crimson attack got goals, and the Loyola attack got dizzy.

The Greyhounds rebounded with a speedy shot with 12:02 left in the half. Then, Loyola's Michelle Batza barely let a minute pass before attacking the net again with another goal.

But Harvard wasn't going to let this one slip away.

Joslin personified the Crimson's perseverence. After missing her first shot, Joslin scooped up the ball to fling it over the goalie's head.

McAnaney forged the captain connection, as she assisted a goal by Co-Captain Lisi Bailliere, before chalking up her own goal.

At 6:28, Batza bounced in the ball on a free-position shot, and Loyola ended the first-half scoring with a shot by Colleen Anderson.

In the second half, the Crimson bashed the nets again, when Julie Clifford drew the goalie out and found a hole. Clifford, who has found a new hobby in scoring, braved through checks and bounced the ball in again, with 18:02 left.

"We had some great passing combinations that enabled us to move the goalie," Joslin said, "which was important because we knew she was really strong."

Loyola, led by Sharon Jones and Janine Kormanik, fought back with its own pair of goals after 10 minutes. minutes.

But Harvard responded. French descended to goal with five minutes left, and Joslin flew down off the draw to create sparks with her bounce-shot at 4:44.

After its success in the Dartmouth game, the settled attack once again found its way into the Crimson's play.

Attacking on Target

"The attack was able to run their play, which they've been working on all season really well," Bailliere said.

Superior stick skills along with an unflagging "no guts, no glory" attitude pushed Harvard ahead of the Lady Greyhounds.

"We were just diving for everything, catching everything, intercepting, cutting off the ball," Joslin said.

The Crimson's performance against Loyola builds up the team's morale for the summit of the season--the game against Temple tomorrow at Soldiers Field.

"We've had some question marks about how stongwe can be against a good goalie, against a gooddefense, and today the attack just came through,"Goalie Kelly Dermody said. "It has to do wondersfor the team's confidence going into Sunday."

Harvard lost to Temple in the semi-finals ofthe NCAA's last year, and Temple went on to winthe tournament. This time it's not Yankee pride;it's just plain Crimson pride.

"They are a great, tough, tough team," Joslinsaid.

Specifically?

"Their stickwork is much like this team that wejust played, but their attitude is much tougherand they've got a lot of depth," Joslin explained.

But, the Crimson doesn't lose hope.

"If we've ever been ready for Temple, we'reready for them now," Coach Carole Kleinfeldersaid