Crimson Bested by Another Ranked Rival

Nines were wild last night.

For the second game in a row, Harvard field hockey surrendered nine goals as ninth-ranked Boston College (13-4, 1-3 ACC) defeated the Crimson (5-9, 2-3 Ivy) 9-1 last night.

“It definitely wasn’t our best game,” sophomore forward Allie Kimmel said. “I think we just couldn’t match BC’s strength and speed.”

Eagles senior captain Chelsey Feole added to her career season, netting five goals in just 29 minutes of play to push her team-leading total to 23 goals on the season.

While the Harvard defense stood strong for the game’s opening minutes, keeping Boston College from scoring off its first four shot attempts, the floodgates opened in the 10th minute.

Feole got things started for the Eagles, recovering her own shot attempt after it was deflected by freshman goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos and driving it home.

Things got bad quickly for the Crimson.

Boston College managed to put the ball past the Harvard goalie under a minute later, this time courtesy of Courtney Tavener, who took the pass on the left side of the field and sent it past Tassopoulos. Feole’s second goal came just over a minute later, as the Eagles scored three times in just over two minutes of play.

“I think we could have definitely played with them,” Kimmel said. “We just couldn’t get our momentum back after their first goal.”

And the goals just kept coming for Boston College.

After a fourteen-minute lull where the Eagles failed to convert on their next four shot attempts, Feole completed her hat trick, this time off a pass from Tavener.

Once again, Feole’s teammates followed the captain’s lead, scoring two goals in the game’s next eight minutes, giving Boston College the commanding 6-0 lead heading into the break.

Feole would not rest in the second half, contributing to her team’s final three scores. The five-foot forward from Windham, New Hampshire sent a pass to Janna Anctil in the 45th minute that the junior forward sent home for her 10th goal of the season. Anctil’s score gave Feole her 11th assist on the year.

Feole rounded out an impressive stat sheet with her fourth and fifth goals of the game, which came in the 47th and 54th minutes. The senior standout’s final tally gave her team nine goals on the night, its highest output of the season, as Boston College cruised throughout the contest.

The loss to another cross-town opponent marked a slight improvement for a Harvard team that failed to come up with only a single shot attempt in its 9-0 shutout loss to No.4 Princeton this past weekend.

Junior forward Chloe Keating ended the Crimson’s 165-minute scoreless drought, notching a goal off a penalty corner in the 55th minute.

Freshman defender Molly Stansik got the Harvard offense going, taking a shot that was saved by Eagles’ goalie Nicole Barry. But the offensive possession resulted in a penalty corner for the Crimson.

Senior co-captain Elizabeth Goodman-Bacon took the corner for Harvard. The ball ended up in the possession of Georgia McGillivray, who passed it to Keating. Keating received the pass, turned, and tipped it past the Boston College goalkeeper, saving the Crimson from another shutout.

Keating’s second-half tally ended her own personal five-game scoreless streak, which dated back to her game-winning goal against Brown in overtime on October 3.

Following the score, Harvard’s defense stood strong for the remainder of the game, managing to keep the Eagles from reaching double-figures in the game’s final sixteen minutes.

“I think at that point we were sick of seeing the ball going into the net,” Tassopoulus said. “It was a little late but at least we made the changes.”

After back-to-back defeats to top-ten opponents, the Crimson looks to get back on track in its senior night game against Dartmouth this Saturday.

“I think [last night’s game] made us better for Saturday,” co-captain Kristin Bannon said. “We’re just sort of trying to use it as preparation for our upcoming [game].”