No. 1 Princeton Too Much for W. Lacrosse

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team fell behind early on Saturday and could not recover, falling 14-4 to No. 1 Princeton.

The Crimson (4-5, 0-3 Ivy) found itself down two goals in the first 1:02 and a strong Tiger defense held Harvard scoreless for the entire first half.

Princeton (11-1, 4-0 Ivy) took a 9-0 lead into the break and didn’t look back en route to its eleventh straight victory.

“You can’t give Princeton a nine goal lead and expect to come back on them,” senior defender Erin Kutner said.

The loss was the second straight for the Crimson, while Princeton has not blemished its loss column since an opening game defeat by then-No. 1 Georgetown.

After the two quick Princeton goals, Harvard settled down and worked through midfield to set up its offense in front of the Tiger goal.

After several nice passes, junior midfielder Katie Shaughnessy earned a free position shot from the left side of the goal. But Tiger goalie Sarah Kolodner made the tough save to keep the Crimson off the board.

Harvard regained possession and had another great opportunity when senior Heather Gotha worked inside the circle and was able to beat Kolodner, but her shot hit the post and bounced off to a Princeton defender.

Princeton then showed off some good passing of its own, as senior Mimi Hammerberg found classmate Charlotte Kenworthy on a quick pass inside and Kenworthy converted to put the Tigers up by three.

Harvard continued to battle but remained unable to get on the scoreboard. A quick steal and shot by freshman and the team-leading scorer Elaine Belitsos hit the post. Later in the half, junior Bernadette Devine’s free position shot opportunity was blocked by a Princeton defender.

The Crimson was put under pressure all day by a Tiger defense led by junior All-American Rachael Becker.

With just under three minutes to go in the first half, Becker stole a Crimson pass and sprinted the entire length of the field before feeding freshman Lindsey Biles.

Biles beat Crimson sophomore goaltender Laura Mancini for her second straight goal and put the Tigers up nine at the break.

“In the first half, we didn’t really test them,” Shaughnessy said.

Despite managing ten shots in the opening frame, Kutner agreed.

“We came out on our heels,” Kutner said. “After halftime we came out with nothing to lose, and we needed to have that attitude in the beginning.”

Harvard began the second half with Mancini making two good saves, but pressure by Princeton’s midfield left Mancini with no outlets after her second save. Mancini’s pass was picked off by Biles who went in one-on-one and scored.

Harvard would finally get on the board two minutes later. Sophomore midfielder Jen Brooks found a cutting Shaughnessy whose low shot beat Princeton goaltender Meghan McInnes. The goal was Shaughnessy’s twelfth on the season.

After several minutes of transitional play through the midfield, Princeton responded with three straight goals to go up 13-1 with just under thirteen minutes to play.

“We weren’t hanging our heads,” Shaughnessy said. “We still had to fight.”

The Crimson did fight back, with three straight goals of its own.

On a nice individual effort, Kutner worked from behind the net to beat McInnes for her third goal of the year.

Shaughnessy then converted a free position attempt and sophomore attacker Ashley Austin found the net after McInnes had been drawn out trying to intercept a pass.

Princeton would score with just ten seconds remaining to close the game with a ten-goal victory.

The Crimson played the Tigers to a 5-4 second half, however, and it will be looking to build on that performance going into Wednesday’s game against Dartmouth.

“We have a tough game Wednesday, so it was good to play well in the second half,” Shaughnessy said.

The Crimson will face a strong Dartmouth team (8-3, 3-2) ranked No. 18 in last week’s IWLCA national poll.

“We have to go out from the beginning and play like we did at the end of this game,” Kutner said.

Game time against the Big Green is 6 p.m. Wed. on Jordan Field.

PRINCETON 14, W. LACROSSE 4

at Jordan Field

Princeton (11-1, 4-0) 9 5 14

Harvard (4-5, 0-3) 0 4 4

Scoring: H Goals: Shaughnessy 2, Kutner 1, Austin 1. H Assists: Brooks 1. P Goals: Biles 4, Kenworthy 3, Miller 1, Sherry 1, Vinyard 1, Small 1, Simone 1, Hardiman 1, Owens 1. P Assists: Pillion 2, Owens 1, Hammerberg 1, Sherry 1, Small 1, Becker 1. Shots: H 19, P 20. Draw Controls: H 8, P 12. Saves: H Mancini 3, P Kolodner 5, P McInees 4.