W. Lacrosse Starts Season on Wrong Foot, Falls to B.C. 11-9

Coming off of a long weekend at William and Mary, the Harvard women's lacrosse team did not fare as well as they had hoped yesterday in their opening game against Boston College. In an 11-9 loss, it just did not fully come together for the Crimson as they faced a B.C. team much improved from last year. Though this improvement certainly should have made the Eagles a tougher opponent, it was not expected to lead to this final outcome.

"We definitely should have won," said senior captain Keren Gudeman. "I think we played pretty tentatively. We had said that draw control would be crucial, and we just didn't come through on the draw."

The team had trouble with its midfield transitions, not connecting on its passes as well as they would have liked. Also, possession proved to be a main factor, as B.C. maintained control most of the game.

"Their attack was their strong point and defense their weak point. We let their attack dominate," said freshman Alli Harper.

On the other end, while Harvard's offense functioned well, it never completely clicked.

"We would create turnovers but we didn't capitalize on them," Harper said.

Although the result was disappointing, the game was close and not without strong performances for the Crimson.

Senior tri-captain attacker Honor MacNaughton led the way for the team with three goals and an assist. Freshman attacker Alli Harper also had a great game with two goals and an assist. Sophomores Ashley Birch, Becca Brown, Jeanne Ficociello and freshman Courtney Leimkuhler each contributed a goal to to the Crimson effort.

This loss comes after a successful trip this past weekend to Virginia, where many schools gathered for a few days of exhibition games at William and Mary. From departure on Thursday to arrival Sunday night, the schedule was packed with half-hour games in which the Crimson proved it could compete with the top teams in the nation.

"We did really well this weekend, we had a lot of momentum," said junior Clare Parker.

Despite yesterday's result, the team plans to return to the weekend's form when they play at UMass on Saturday.

"We'll learn from this," said Parker. "We're going to to crush UMass this weekend."

The team plans to train hard the next few days and looks forward to practicing on its field, which has been inaccessible because of the weather. The women have only played on a full field a few times so far.

But, a disappointing result this early in the season is not something on which this promising team is going to dwell.

"We will definitely put it behind us and not let it put us down," said Gudeman.

"The team is an amazing group of individuals," said Harper. "We'll bounce back. We can turn this into a good thing by making sure it is something that never happens again."