W. Lax Stays in Ivy Lower Echelon

1996

Sports Statistics

Record: 5-7, 1-5 Ivy

Ivy Finish: Sixth

Coach: Carole Kleinfelder

Key Players: Co-captains Shana Barghouti, Daphne Clark; Juniors Honor MacNaughton, Keren Gudeman

1997

Any review of the 1997 Harvard women's lacrosse season has to start with the freshmen.

No, they were not the team's best players. But there were seven of them, plus two sophomores that were new to the 19-person Harvard varsity.

It was always known that they had to be the team's identity. The problem was, it took half the season for that to happen.

The Class of 2000 turned from a bunch of non-descript players that had trouble on the transition to individuals with different strengths who helped form a pretty good team.

And it was the end of the season that saw Harvard's best play--a 2-3 stretch that saw losses to No. 2 Loyola and to two of the Ivy's best teams, Yale and Dartmouth, as well as solid victories over Cornell and New Hampshire.

Still, it was not a great season, all things considered. The Crimson finished the year in second-to-last place at 1-5 (5-7 overall), with three of the wins coming in March against lightly regarded Boston College, Boston University and UMass.

That left a big hole in the middle--a five game losing streak that started over Spring Break and lasted until mid-April. Those games included close finishes that Harvard wishes it could have had back (one-goal defeats to Penn and Vanderbilt) and blowout losses that were never really that close (to Princeton, Maryland and Brown).

Throughout these losses, the story was essentially the same. Harvard played good defense and often kept the score close early on, but too many turnovers would force the defense back on its heels.

As a result co-captain goaltender Shana Barghouti had the most goals-against and saves in the Ivies during league games.

Part of the problem was inexperience. Harvard couldn't practice its transition game too much because the late snowstorms closed Ohiri Field for much of the season and Briggs Athletic Center isn't big enough to do running and catching drills.

Things didn't click until the new players got used to each other and fit into their roles. Freshman Ashley Birch became a scorer and classmate Jeanne Ficociello proved to be good all-around. Their fellow first-year players also found their place; only one (Kim Weeks) did not see significant time.

Junior Honor MacNaughton led the team's attack the whole season, but she had to carry the entire offensive workload early on. In the third game of the season (at B.U.), MacNaughton scored five of the team's 10 goals to lead a comeback victory, prompting Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder to mutter after one of her tallies, "We're a one-woman offense."

MacNaughton remained the offensive star--she led the team with 22 goals, nine more than the next-closest player, senior Chris Shortsleeve. But she didn't have to do it all--in Harvard's final game (a 17-9 win over UNH), MacNaughton led the team with three goals, but five other players scored twice.

The same happened to Harvard's defense. Once the Crimson's opponents stopped getting too many easy fast breaks, the back players could do what they did best--stop the set offense.

Maryland, the eventual national champion, could only muster five first-half goals on Harvard, while No. 2 Loyola did not run away until it had some fast-break goals.

Next year, the problem for the Crimson is that many of these defenders graduate--co-captain Daphne Clark, Liz Schoyer and Shortsleeve, as well as the keeper Barghouti. Senior attacker Liz Hren will also leave

MacNaughton remained the offensive star--she led the team with 22 goals, nine more than the next-closest player, senior Chris Shortsleeve. But she didn't have to do it all--in Harvard's final game (a 17-9 win over UNH), MacNaughton led the team with three goals, but five other players scored twice.

The same happened to Harvard's defense. Once the Crimson's opponents stopped getting too many easy fast breaks, the back players could do what they did best--stop the set offense.

Maryland, the eventual national champion, could only muster five first-half goals on Harvard, while No. 2 Loyola did not run away until it had some fast-break goals.

Next year, the problem for the Crimson is that many of these defenders graduate--co-captain Daphne Clark, Liz Schoyer and Shortsleeve, as well as the keeper Barghouti. Senior attacker Liz Hren will also leave