Columbia Defeats Crimson in Stunning Upset

Before Saturday’s game against Columbia, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team honored seniors Sarah Bancroft, Shannon Flynn, Kaitlin Martin, and Catriona Stewart in their last college lacrosse game at Harvard Stadium.

After the game, a crowd dominated by the Lions was wildly celebrating Columbia’s only Ivy League win of the season after the visitors scored with 39.9 seconds left to win 11-10.

“We were really disappointed with the outcome,” junior tri-captain Sara Flood said. “We typically beat Columbia, and it’s always a must-win on our schedule. I think they just came in really wanting an Ivy win…they’ve really been struggling in the Ivy League, so they were really pumped.”

It had been four years since the Lions (7-6, 1-5 Ivy League) defeated the Crimson (4-10, 1-5) in Cambridge, and both teams opened the game in a defensive mindset, not wanting to concede anything en route to a 4-4 halftime deadlock. Harvard opened the scoring when Flood found freshman Katie Doherty who sent one through the pipes 3:25 into play. Columbia rebounded less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1.

Freshman Tyler Petropulous and sophomore Jess Halpern both scored unassisted goals over the next three minutes to give the Crimson a 3-1 advantage with just over 23 minutes remaining in the first period. The Lions used a steady attack and efficient shooting to tie the score at 4-4 with 3:53 remaining in the first half, despite being outshot by the Crimson, 16-9.

“The shots in the first half were all about the placement,” Sophomore Sam McMahon said. “We were shooting right at the goalie instead of around the goalie, and that allowed Columbia to get back in it…we gave them hope that they could come back and win it in the second half.”

After the Lions opened the scoring in the second half, Doherty notched two goals in less than a minute to complete a hat trick and re-capture the lead at 6-5. Columbia responded by rattling off four straight goals in a little over three minutes to take the largest lead of the game at 9-6. Halpern broke Columbia’s scoring run, though, to pull the game within two halfway through the second half in a back-and-forth contest.

“Their coach is a fighter,” Flood said. “[Harvard coach Lisa] Miller actually coached Columbia’s coach, so I’m sure [she was] excited and I’m sure she told her players to get after it hard. We’ve been having some trouble lately, and I’m sure they looked at our schedule and thought we were vulnerable.”

After a lull in the action, Columbia stretched the lead back to three, giving Harvard a sense of urgency heading into the last ten minutes of the game. Petropulous scored her third and fourth goals of the contest in 48 seconds to match her career high and breathe life into the Crimson, down 10-9 with 9:13 left.

Both squads played gritty and inspired defense for the next eight minutes until junior Delia Pais forced a turnover and reclaimed possession for Harvard. Pais found a streaking Halpern, who created a hat trick of her own and tied the game at 10-10 after Columbia had been leading for over 20 minutes.

But with the game on the line, it was the Lions who would get the last opportunity. Although the Crimson gained six out of nine draw controls in the first period, it dropped nine of fourteen in the second, including the final draw following Halpern’s goal to set up the game-winner.

“After tying it up we were really hoping that we would get the draw control,” McMahon said. “The past three possessions we had really been pressuring out and the defense just had a lapse there at the end…we definitely shouldn’t have pressed out as much on the last shot.”

With many defenders out of position, Columbia’s Gabrielle Geronimos rolled the crease and hit a bounce shot to put the Lions ahead for good, securing their first conference win and extending Harvard’s losing streak to five games.

“We went out there and we played hard, but the past few weeks, the little things have been costing us the game,” McMahon said. “The hustle was there, we just didn’t finish what we wanted to finish as far as details, but hopefully those things will start to fall in place.”

The Crimson will seek to end its losing streak and capture its second conference win next weekend when it travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to play Cornell in both teams’ Ivy League finale.