Cornell Scares Laxwomen Before Falling, 10-5

As well-known lacrosse guru Vince Lombardi, once said, "Winning isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing."

If the former Packer coach can be trusted, then the Harvard women's lacrosse game Saturday against Cornell on Ohiri Field can be deemed a complete success.

But the 10-5 victory was not as well-rounded as it could have been. In fact, at some points of the contest, it looked as though as the underdog Big Red might pull out an upset.

The scariest moment came with 11:53 to play in the second half. Cornell (0-5 Ivy, 2-8 overall) had scored the second of two straight goals to reduce the deficit to 7-5.

For Harvard (4-1, 8-3), the game ought to have been much more of a blowout.

"It never should have gotten that close," co-captain Francie Walton (three assists) said.

At first, it looked as though the game would be a slaughter, as it took less than three minutes for the crimson to gain a 2-0 win and only 5:40 more to add two goals to that.

"I think that we started off very well," co-captain Margot McAnaney said. "But then it slowed down. We tried [some new offensive sets] that slowed down the pace, but everyone's tempo slowed down."

And the Big Red slowly came back. With 18:42 to play in the half Cornell free shot made its way past freshman Harvard goaltender Kate Schutt (.500 save percentage). Over ten minutes after that, Cornell attacker Jennifer Bass scored to cut the margin to 4-2.

While this was happening, the Harvard offense was not being effective at all. The Crimson AHD difficulties making crisp passes and did not take advantage of its scoring opportunities.

"[We] weren't taking the ball to the goal," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "We had a lot more chances because we weren't able to finish--we stopped and didn't stay with it."

"We were not catching and throwing like we should have been," Walton said. "There was a slump in the middle of the game."

Part of the drought can be attributed to Big Red netminder Carol Owen, who amassed 14 saves on the day, for a Herculean .737 save percentage.

As the half wound down, however, Walton ended the scoring spell. With only 4:23 left to play, Walton raced down the field on a fast break, circled around the Cornell goal and passed to sophomore Erin Cleary, who rifled the ball into the net.

But the momentum did not carry over to the second half.

The score remained at 5-2 for almost 10 minutes after the opening draw, until the upset-minded Cornell offense struck again to cut the lead to two goals.

But yet another time Harvard retaliated when it counted. Less than two minutes after the cornell goal, senior Sarah Downing (two assists) stole the ball and passed to junior Megan Colligan (three goals), who cut past a defender and bounced the ball past Owen.

Colligan provided more fireworks 2:04 after that, as she performed practically the same move to tally another score for the Crimson, and it seemed as though Harvard had finally begun to put away the upstarts.

However, it would not be that easy, as the pesky Big Red attack stayed close by scoring two additional goals to cut the lead to 7-5.

Part of the difficulty for the Crimson was the Big Red offense. Cornell used a practice of reversing its defenders and attackers when it had the ball, thus creating confusion for the Harvard defense.

"People were free in the middle," Kleinfelder said. "I thought that [the Cornell set] created problems for us."

"We had a hard time figuring out what their game plan was," McAnaney said. "They got some one-on-ones [on offense that they shouldn't have gotten]."

After the fifth Big Red goal, Klein felder called a timeout and mustered a defensive plan to stop the Cornell offense.

Thankfully for the Crimson, it worked. Schutt made some important saves in the next few minutes, until Harvard scored three goals in the last seven minutes to put away Cornell.

For the Crimson, the victory was a mixed blessing. It was a in, but it showed what Harvard has to fix before its game Tuesday against Dart mouth, a much better team than Cornell.

"[The game] was OK," Schutt said "We are still working hard to put a 60 minute team together."

"The defense is set for Dartmouth," McAnaney said. "I think that the main thing is quick catching and passing on transition."

Saturday's game also marked the last home game for Harvard's seniors, who include Walton, McAnaney, Downing, Emily Buxton, Joey Alissi, and Kelly Morrison.

"It was the seniors' last home game, and they tried to carry the lead," Kleinfelder said.