Crimson Finishes in Style

Yesterday afternoon at Harvard Stadium, the Crimson women’s lacrosse team (4-10, 1-4 Ivy League) finished its home season with a resounding 12-6 victory over the University of New Hampshire (6-9, 3-2 AE), its first win against the Wildcats in the last three seasons.

After quickly scoring three unanswered goals in the game’s first eight minutes, Harvard was in the lead for good and mustered a strong enough defensive challenge to prevent the Wildcats from gaining momentum after its goals.

“We’re so excited for a win,” coach Sarah Nelson said. “I thought it was going to be closer, but the kids really took off and never slowed down.”

Junior Tara Schoen, who was the biggest factor in the fast start that Nelson was referring to, ended up contributing an astounding five goals on the day. She struck early and often, scoring two of the team’s first three goals unassisted.

Schoen added one more at the end of the half from a free position shot to widen Harvard’s lead to 7-2 before scoring another two goals in the second half. She now has 20 goals on the season and stands as the team’s third leading scorer.

Still modest, Schoen attributed her contributions to the team’s quest to end the home season with a win.

“As a team, we play best with a lot of confidence and emotion,” Schoen said. “We were all really excited and wanted to come home with a win in our home stadium for the last time.”

In addition to Schoen’s multi-point game, junior Caroline Simmons found the back of the net twice and recorded one assist. Sophomore Kaitlin Martin, who leads the team with 35 goals, similarly scored two goals while sophomore Sarah Bancroft, freshman Sara Flood, and junior Ali Hines each scored once.

Aside from Harvard’s three goals scored on free position shots, many of the team’s remaining goals—six assisted, three unassisted—were aided by the Crimson’s ability to create open space in front of the net.

“We’ve definitely been working on a trying to clear space for the ball,” Nelson said. “The kids were clearing out for each other really well and there’s a lot of room for them to challenge the goal. They were doing that and shooting well.

Before the Wildcats even recorded their first shot, Harvard had already notched three goals and recorded seven shots. In addition to this solid defense that denied UNH players space to maneuver in front of the net, Harvard scooped up 11 groundballs in the first half and 22 in the game.

“I felt like this was probably the second game after Columbia that they have been playing the way that they practiced,” Nelson said. “We’ve been working so hard in practice at having then go after everything: ground balls, draw controls, playing really aggressive and causing turnovers.”

The Crimson also managed to best the Wildcats 16-4 in draw controls. This superiority allowed Harvard to win back possession immediately after scoring and denied UNH the opportunity to establish offensive momentum.

“We’ve realized that the draw control is a key for our wins,” Schoen said. “If we get the draw control, we’re going to score. Having the draw control gives us complete control of the game.”

Harvard was able to minimize the impact of its 28 turnovers by creating havoc as the Wildcats attempted to clear the ball from their defensive zone. Though the Crimson only cleared four out of seven in the second period, UNH cleared 7-14, unacceptable for a trailing team.

The Crimson will play its last two games of the 2007 campaign on the road and faces Cornell tomorrow.

—Staff Writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu.