W. Lacrosse Gains First Ivy Win Over Columbia

For the Harvard women's lacrosse team, something had to give. That something turned out to be the schedule.

The Harvard women's lacrosse team found the perfect cure for its Ivy League woes this weekend-a touch of warm weather and a large helping of Columbia (2-11, 0-7 Ivy), the league's only other winless team. The end result was a 16-5 Crimson blowout at Jordan Field on Saturday. The win was Harvard's first Ivy League victory of the season.

"It was good to get the first Ivy League win under our belt," senior attacker Courtney Leimkuhler said.

The Crimson (6-6, 1-5 Ivy) held the Lions to three goals in the first half and shut them down in the second with a streak of six unanswered goals to close out the contest.

Captain Alli Harper led the Crimson with three goals and two assists, including an unassisted goal that put the Crimson ahead 6-3 to end the first half.

During that first half, Harvard played with sustained energy but still seemed a bit uncoordinated on the attack. A number of errant Crimson lobs out of the defensive zone that could have lead to additional scoring opportunities were intercepted.

The Lions were also able to keep it relatively close in the first 30 minutes thanks to the work of goalie Jessica Valadez.

Harvard dominated possession and essentially peppered Valadez with shots all afternoon, firing 40 shots on goal. Valadez stopped 16 of those attempts in keeping her team in contention.

But Harvard's pressure did not relent, and the quality of its passing game began to match its energy level in the second half. The result was an offensive explosion that had seemed imminent for most of the afternoon.

With the Crimson up 10-5 almost eleven minutes into the second period, Leimkuhler converted a pass from senior Lauren Corkery to kick off the six-goal run. Junior Lizzie Frisbie added a free-position strike, and Harper put the nail in the coffin with another goal.

"In the first half, we were dominating, but we weren't up by as much as we could've been," Leimkuhler said. "In the second, we really started playing like a team, especially on our attack."

Junior Heather Gotha paced the Crimson attack in the game's early stages with the game's first goal and another off a smooth feed from Harper. She finished with three goals and an assist.

Corkery finished with two goals and an assist.

With the game well in hand in the final minutes, Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder turned to her bench and brought in freshman backup Laura Mancini to make her collegiate debut.

Mancini's debut went smoothly thanks to her teammates. The ball never came Mancini's way.

Before Mancini came in, sophomore goalie Nora Guyer had done a capable job in net, stopping five shots, but she had a lot of help.

Columbia only managed 23 shots on goal, and most of those came in the first half.

The win breathed life into a season that had taken a turn for the worst after a promising start. After defeating nationally ranked UMass in its first week, the team had struggled with inconsistency. Its last win had been Apr. 4 against then-No. 7 Boston University.

Against the Lions, the Crimson finally put together a complete performance against a team it was supposed to beat.

"It was a very important win for us because we've struggled against weaker teams," Harper said. "It came at a good time for us, with Cornell coming up next weekend."

The Crimson will wrap up its league schedule against the Big Red in Ithaca on Saturday.