W. Lacrosse Manhandled by Maryland, 11-2

Too bad the blue laws aren't still in effect.

The Harvard women's lacrosse team (2-1 Ivy, 7-3 overall) was manhandled by Maryland (7-0 overall) yesterday at Ohiri Field by the score Crimson in many years.

"I don't know what happened," a dejected co-captain Francie Walton said.

The game was supposed to take place on Saturday, but driving rains and poor field conditions caused the referees to postpone the game until yesterday.

That did not turn out to be good news for Harvard.

On Saturday, the game was stopped with 21:47 left to play in the first half, right after Megan Colligan's goal tied the score at one. It looked as though the contest would be an extremely close, hard-fought duel, albeit very wet.

But the rains came harder, and the game was restarted yesterday, which simply was not the Crimson's day.

At first, it looked to be another close game. Both teams had good scoring chances early in the match, but neither could put the ball in the net.

Then, however, Maryland caught on fire. 11:58 into the first period, freshman Harvard goaltender Kate Schutt knocked away a shot from a Maryland attacker, but another Terrapin picked up the loose ball and threw it into the net.

In the next three minutes, Maryland scored four more goals to make the score 5-0 over the shocked Harvard players.

"I wish that I could say that it was one thing," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "But it was a combination of things.

"They got some early goals, and that gave them confidence--we just backed off them."

But the Crimson defense held the Terrapin attack at bay for the rest of the half. Unfortunately for Harvard, its offense also was unable to score, and at halftime, Maryland led 5-0.

Early in the second half, the Crimson showed signs that it might make a rally. 4:18 after the opening whistle, senior Emily Buxton whipped a free shot into the net, and the deficit was reduced to four goals.

The comeback was short-lived, however. The Maryland scoring machine came alive again 6:04 later, as the Terrapins scored five more goals in less than 11 minutes.

And with each time an opposing attacker put a ball behind Schutt's stick, the faces of the Harvard players grew longer and the cheers from the bench became more desperate.

It was not until after the contest that the weight of the loss really began to sink into the minds of the Crimson players.

"This is the worst loss since I've been here," Kleinfelder said. "I have to believe that we are good."

Junior Genevieve Chelius, who scored Harvard's other goal long after the matter was decided, put it more bluntly.

"We should have played [on Saturday]," she said.

Now the Crimson must try and regroup to make the playoffs, which are still a possibility, since Harvard's three losses are to the top three teams in the nation.

There are four games left in the season for Harvard--Brown and Cornell are at home, while Dartmouth and Vermont are away--and the Crimson really have to win all of them to make the six-team playoffs.

"It remains to be seen how well we'll recover," Kleinfelder said.