Huskies Outpace Crimson on Road

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team’s early-season slide continued last night, as the Crimson fell to Connecticut by a score of 15-8. The loss is Harvard’s third straight after opening the season with a 14-13 victory over Holy Cross.

The Crimson fell behind early and was never able to catch up, despite a career-high five goals from sophomore attacker Kaitlin Martin, all of which came in the second half.

After trailing 11-3 with 20:16 to play, Martin’s fifth goal brought Harvard to within five at 13-8 with a little over three minutes remaining in the second half. That was as close as it would get, however, as two late goals by the Huskies ended any hope of a late comeback.

“Today was a different kind of disappointment,” co-captain Perry Barlow said, “because we really felt we had a chance to turn things around but just didn’t execute the way we were hoping.”

Oddly enough, despite the final score, the Crimson seemed to have won the battle on paper. Harvard controlled 16 of 25 draws and outshot UConn, 35-28, including a 23-13 edge in the second half. But the Huskies had two goalies combine to make 16 saves, which both Martin and Barlow blamed on poor shooting.

“We had trouble putting the ball around [the goalie],” Martin said. “We’ve got to throw in a couple more fakes to get the goalie to move.”

Going into the game, the Crimson hoped to control the ball on offense and maximize length of possession, and it worked in the opening minutes. With 11 minutes elapsed in the first half, junior Natalie Curtis scored Harvard’s first goal to tie the score at 1.

But, as was the case with its previous two losses, Harvard began to fade as halftime approached. Just 11 seconds after Curtis’ tally, Robyn Pastuch scored the first of five consecutive UConn goals to regained the lead.

The Huskies went into halftime with a comfortable 7-2 lead.

The Crimson’s inability to maintain focus throughout the first half has been a troubling early season trend. Harvard went into halftime down 14-3 against UMass and 12-6 against BC, despite at one point having been tied with both teams, 2-2.

“In the first five minutes...we’ve been playing really well and playing really hard.” Barlow said, “But then sometimes we just sink into a bit of a lull, which has been pretty frustrating.”

The UConn lead stretched to 11-3 in the second half before Harvard attack began to click. The offensive revival was led by Martin, who leads the team with 11 goals this season.

“[She] had an incredible game,” Barlow said. “They were trying to essentially face-guard her and they still couldn’t stop her. After she got two goals, they were already marking her and double teaming her, and she was still able to break free.”

The Crimson’s next game is Sunday against Quinnipiac at Jordan Field. It will be an important test of the team’s resiliency as it tries to rebound in time for the beginning of Ivy League play.

“We just need to come back and work twice as hard in practice,” Martin said. “And come into the game on Sunday and just blow Quinnipiac away.”