W. Lacrosse Overpowers BC

Following an off-day against Massachusetts last Saturday, a revitalized Harvard women’s lacrosse team earned a convincing 11-4 victory over Boston College yesterday at Jordan Field.

“We think [the 9-5 UMass loss] wasn’t indicative of our team,” said Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder. “We had to prove what kind of team we were against BC, and I think we did that.”

Harvard (1-1) came out on fire and opened up a 7-1 first-half lead against hapless BC (2-1), who had been picked to finish last in the Big East this year. Junior midfielder Katie Shaughnessy scored just 1:04 into the game to lead off the Crimson scoring.

“We came out today, and there was just so much energy from our loss on Saturday,“ said senior defender Erin Kutner. “We just wanted to come out really strong and prove that we could win it. The score shows that we can really put a team away if we wanted to.”

Harvard’s pressure began to wane early in the second half as BC scored once right before the break and twice right after to cut the deficit to 7-4. Captain Lauren Miller led the way for BC, scoring three of the Eagles’ goals.

But the Crimson didn’t let BC get any closer. The first several minutes of the second half was only stretch when the Eagles controlled the ball with any consistency.

“I think there were some times where we sat back on our lead a little bit, but other than that we pretty much dominated,” Kutner said.

Harvard’s scoring came from both experience and youth between senior attacker Melissa Christino and freshman Elaine Belitsos, each of whom netted hat tricks.

The Crimson has had to rely on its youth more than usual with the graduation of its two leading scorers from last season—Alli Harper ’01 and Lauren Corkery ’01—and the departure of third-leading scorer Lizzy Frisbie ’02 as well.

Yesterday the freshmen were up to the task, especially attacker Casey Owens who scored her first career goal and tallied her first two career assists, and Belitsos, who met her coach’s high expectations.

“[Belitsos] had a great fall for us, and we saw glimmers of what she could do,” Kleinfelder said. “[Back then] she wasn’t at full strength. She was playing with a cast on her hand. Now we’re seeing what she’s capable of.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Laura Mancini made 14 big saves in net, and also prevented BC from scoring on the majority of nine free position shots, including one in the final seconds that drew an ovation from the Harvard bench.

Mancini’s performance and health will be essential this year now that last year’s starter Nora Guyer ’02 is taking the semester off, leaving Harvard with just one goalkeeper on its roster. Kleinfelder has had other players on the team practice the position as part of an emergency contingency plan.

A momentum-building win was crucial for Harvard as it looks ahead to the next challenge—its Ivy opener against Brown next Wednesday. Last year, when the Crimson posted its worst Ivy finish ever at seventh place, sixth-place Brown was at least one league foe it felt it should have surpassed.

“That’s an important game for us, because last year they beat us, and I don’t think we should have lost that game,” Kleinfelder said. “I’m not taking anything away from Brown, but I didn’t think we really showed our best.”

Kleinfelder will try to play to her strengths against the Bears, who downed Colgate 16-3 in their season opener.

“They’re going to be tough,” she said. “They’re a very tall team. I don’t think they have the speed that we have, so let’s hope we can capitalize on it.”

Kutner believed the BC game is a sign that this season will be different.

“Last year was kind of an up and down season,” Kutner said. “I think this year we’re completely prepared, especially coming off a win like this, where we finally showed what we could put together.”