Laxwomen Go 2-0 at Ohiri

Ho hum. It was another couple of days at the office.

The Harvard women's lacrosse team extended its winning streak to six games this weekend with wins over Vermont and Rutgers at Ohiri Field. The Crimson, who now stand 9-2 overall (2-1 Ivy), remained unbeaten at home, beating Vermont 11-5 and Rutgers 20-10.

"We needed to win both of these games, and we did," sophomore Sarah Winters said.

"We've been beating people, but not by the margins that we're capable of, and we needed this weekend to gain some confidence and stay on course," she said.

Consider the goals achieved. It wasn't all easy, though.

On Saturday, Harvard went to work on Vermont, an unranked but dangerous team, and almost immediately fell behind 2-0.

"They're a physical team that always gives us problems, and we knew that it was going to be a tough game," Co-Captain Liz Berkery said.

"We started a little bit slowly, but then we started focusing more on making short passes and going to the goal hard," the Eliot senior said.

Eventually, Harvard's persistence allowed it to pull away for a comfortable win.

It didn't hurt that the defense played "incredibly well," according to Berkery. Harvard's defense was not quite as strong the next day against Rutgers, but it didn't have to be. The Crimson scored easily and often against its outmanned opponent.

"Rutgers has a really young team, because their program only started up three years ago," Berkery said. "Our main concerns were to be patient, move the ball, and work together."

Although the Crimson gave up a few easy goals in the second half, there was never any doubt about the outcome of this game. The power-house Harvard squad was not about to be upset.

"We just need to step it up and play like it's the end of the season," Berkery said. "We've been outside for awhile now, and we've been fine-tuning, and we have to get ready."

What is Harvard getting ready for? Eventually, Coach Carole Kleinfelder and her team will focus on the NCAA playoffs, but for now, they have to play three tough Ivy League contests.

After a road game at Brown on Wednesday, the Crimson will tackle Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., and Dartmouth at home next weekend.

"All the games from now on will be tough, but we need to win them to stay on track for the Ivy title," Winters said.

Harvard fans can only hope that the team will take care of business this week as well as it has for the last several weeks.