Women's Lacrosse Stymied By Top-20 Foes

Taking on two ranked opponents at home during spring break, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team suffered blowout defeats, losing both contests at Jordan Field.

The most important loss came to No. 16 Yale, as the Bulldogs cruised past the Crimson (2-6, 0-1 Ivy) in Harvard’s Ivy League opener.

The Crimson was also crushed by No. 11 Syracuse on the first weekend of spring break, losing by double digits for the second time this season.

YALE 17, HARVARD 8

Good starts aren’t everything.

Harvard scored three of the first four goals of the game, leading 2-0 and 3-1, but Yale tallied 10 second-half scores to cruise to a 17-8 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Seven different players scored for the Crimson, but Harvard couldn’t match the Bulldogs’ offensive explosion. Lauren Taylor scored six goals for Yale, with teammate Kat Peetz tacking on four more.

The Crimson stayed within striking distance for much of the game. After the Bulldogs took a 7-4 lead into halftime, junior Caroline Simmons brought Harvard within two on her 15th goal of the season at 2:05 of the second frame.

From that point, neither team scored for the next 12 minutes, as shot after shot was turned away by the Crimson’s Katherine Martino and Yale’s Ellen Cameron.

But at 14:31, Taylor beat Martino and opened the floodgates for the Bulldogs. Over the next seven minutes, Yale peppered the Crimson net, tallying six more goals and building up a 14-5 lead.

Sophomore Sarah Bancroft finally ended the Bulldogs’ streak with a score at 21:50, but Harvard would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.

SYRACUSE 23, HARVARD 12

After facing the Orange, the Harvard women’s lacrosse players were left with a sour taste in their mouths.

The Crimson succumbed, 23-12, to Syracuse (6-4) last Sunday afternoon at Jordan Field, marking its third straight loss to the Orange.

Syracuse snagged an early lead in the first half, pushing past Harvard to go ahead 4-1. The Crimson quickly regained its momentum, with sophomore Kaitlin Martin and junior Natalie Curtis each finding the net to cut the Orange’s lead to one goal.

But Syracuse went on a three-score run in the 14th minute to move into a 7-3 lead.

The Crimson kept up the pressure, and 15:06 into the half, Curtis slammed in a stick-side goal off of a pass from Martin to cut the lead to three. Curtis scored to continue the Crimson’s offensive run and move within 7-5.

Reclaiming control, Syracuse finished off a shot that bounced off the post with just over 10 minutes left in the first to extend the Orange lead to 8-5. Syracuse netted five goals in the last seven minutes of the half.

At the start of the second half, Harvard looked like it could mount a comeback, as Martin hammered one into the back of the net to bring the score to 13-7.

But Syracuse maintained control of the game, blowing by the Crimson on a four-goal run to widen the gap to 17-7.

Harvard traded points with the Orange down the stretch, as Martin pounded in another shot and junior Ali Hines slammed in two of her own, but ripped off another four-score run to double up Harvard, 22-11.

Simmons hammered in a shot, moving Harvard within 10, and Syracuse found the net one last time with 29 seconds left to clinch its 23-12 victory over the Crimson.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.