Boston College Defeats Struggling Crimson

Last night, in its penultimate home game, the Harvard field hockey team squared off against No. 14 Boston College at Jordan Field. The Crimson (3-12, 1-4 Ivy) looked to snap a six-game losing streak under the lights, but the Eagles (11-6, 1-3 ACC) were the team that shined, cruising to a 5-0 victory.

“We had a good game plan,” sophomore goalkeeper Cynthia Tassopoulos said. “I think we just came out a little bit flat.”

Boston College got on the board early, tallying the game’s first goal 42 seconds into the action. Eagles forward Courtney Tavener edged her defender along the left baseline and sent a pass to forward Jenna Anctil in front of the goal. Anctil one-timed the pass into the net for an easy score.

Roughly five minutes later, the duo struck again. This time, Tavener beat her defender by bouncing the ball on her stick. She found Anctil in the same place as before, and the senior buried the shot to put Boston College up, 2-0.

“I wish I knew [why we struggled in the opening minutes],” Harvard coach Sue Caples said. “I think a lot of that is mental preparation…The first two goals were gifts, and you can’t give gifts to good teams.”

The Crimson shored up its defense for the rest of the half and even generated a few chances of its own. With 15 minutes remaining in the period, sophomore forward Nina Kucharczyk made a run on net with a defender on her left. Kucharczyk managed to fire off a solid shot, but Eagles goalkeeper Kristine Stigas hit the turf and smothered the attempt.

In the waning minutes of the half, Harvard had another scoring opportunity. This time, Kucharczyk drove into the circle and passed to freshman midfielder Rachel Rosenfeld, who then ripped a shot on net, but Stigas made a kick save—her only other save on the night—and the threat was averted.

In the second half, the Crimson’s bend-but-don’t-break defense finally buckled. Anctil picked up a hat trick just eight minutes into the action with a shot from the left side of the circle—her 11th goal of the season. Boston College extended its lead towards the end of the game with a close-range goal from Tavener at 59:08 and powerful rip from forward Nicole Schuster at 63:20.

“In the second half, it got out of control,” Caples said. “We made a lot of decision-making errors. It put us on the defensive a lot, and we didn’t get on track.”

Harvard managed just one shot in the frame—a harmless deflection by freshman midfielder Mariah Pewarski with three minutes left in the game. The Eagles, on the other hand, recorded 17 shots in the same time span. The ball rarely crossed into the Crimson’s offensive half in the final 35 minutes.

“We need to handle the ball better out of our defensive end so that we get it over the 50,” Caples said.

“Our defense just needs to keep stepping up and putting pressure on them so they can’t get open shots,” Tassopoulos added.

If it were not for Tassopoulos’ stalwart play between the pipes, the score might have been even worse. The sophomore registered nine saves on the night as Boston College continually challenged the goalkeeper, particularly in the second half, in which she made seven saves. Her most impressive stop might have come in the first half, when Tassopoulos deflected a shot from Anctil, and, as the ball trickled towards the goal line, she dove and cleared the threat.

“[Tassopoulos] has been so strong,” Caples said. “She’s leading the defense. She’s the anchor back there. She’s been a rock for us.”

Harvard has now lost seven straight games and 12 of its last 13. The loss was the Crimson’s second straight to a ranked opponent, as it fell to No. 5 Princeton, 4-0, last Saturday.

“I think we can hang with the top teams,” Tassopoulos said. “Today was just a bit of an off day, and starting tomorrow we’ll get back on [track].”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.