Laxwomen Remain Undefeated, 16-4

What's a lacrosse goalie's worst nightmare?

Unrelenting pressure in the crease and non-stop corner shots from intimidating fowards.

And unfortunately for Yale's two goalies, that nightmare turned to reality yesterday in the form of the Harvard women's lacrosse team.

Dominating on the ground and in the air, the Harvard squad (4-0 overall, 3-0 Ivy) kept up its habit of trouncing Ivy League opponents this season, defeating the Elis, 16-4, at Ohiri Field.

The Harvard scoring fest began with a goal from Char Joslin and continued through the first half, with the Crimson scoring ten goals.

Goals from Joslin, Jenny Walser, Katie McAnaney and Karen Everling, and two each from Julia French and Julie Clifford staked Harvard to a 8-0 lead halfway through the first half. Yale's Susan Humphrey caught the Crimson defense off-guard and scored on Harvard goalie Kelly Dermody but Crimson Co-Captain Lisi Bailliere then answered Yale with an authoritative coast-to-coast goal.

With help from a strong midfield, Harvard's impressive offensive drives continually penetrated a Yale defense that seemed to be still on spring vacation.

Assisted by Joslin, Everling scored again late in the first half to make the halftime score 10-1.

In the second half, Yale played more aggressively and attempted to put more pressure on the Crimson. Although the Elis scored three goals, they were unable to cool Harvard's hot attack, which notched six more goals by the end of the game.

"When a team comes on as strong as we did it's really hard to stop them," Clifford said.

Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder attributed the Crimson's superiority to its ability to gain possesion of ground balls. "We dominated on the ground balls, especially in the first half."

"We won on the ground," Clifford aggreed, "When the ball was on the ground Harvard was all over it. I guess we just hustled more."

Harvard benefited from strong performances from its bench and a well-balanced scoring attack. Ten players combined to score the Crimson's 16 goals.

"The scoring is very spread out, which is different from last year, when we had only two or three players doing most of the scoring," Co-Captain Bailliere said. "This team might not be as skilled as last year's but we work very hard and the intensity is there."

Clifford, who scored as many goals as the entire Yale team, was the leading scorer.

"She was a JV player last year," said Kleinfelder, referring to Clifford. "She came off the bench and did a really nice job."

"They were giving us holes in the crease and I just found them," Clifford said.

"Julie had a great game," Bailliere said. "Her strength is driving the crease and she really took advantage of that. [Kleinfelder] told us Yale would give us openings in the crease. Julie did exactly what she was supposed to do. She played with a lot of poise."

Harvard's overwhelming performance over Yale surprised some of the Crimson.

"The score really doesn't reflect Yale's ability," Bailliere said. "We were just tackling back well, getting ground balls and good checks. Keeping our intensity up was key."

Harvard takes on a tough University of New Hampshire team Saturday and the strong win over Yale will certainly help.

"This game was a good way to get us ready for UNH this weekend," Clifford said.

If yesterday's game is any indication, this team is ready for anything.