Freshmen Impress In Season Opener

First-game jitters were not much of an issue for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team’s freshman class.

In its first collegiate game, the class of 2013 netted all 10 of the Crimson’s goals, as Harvard (1-0) won its season opener on the road at UMass (2-3), 10-8.

“It was great to go there and get the win,” junior Sam McMahon said. “I’m glad that [the freshmen’s] first game in a Harvard uniform was a win.”

With the Minutewomen’s defensive attention focused on Crimson junior Jess Halpern—last season’s Ivy League leader in goals per game—other members of the team were freed up for scoring opportunities.

The team’s freshmen were the biggest beneficiaries.

“Any team would be stupid to not shut her off,” freshman Jennifer VanderMeulen said. “Jess could barely touch the ball. We knew that Jess was going to be face-guarded. I feel like [us] freshmen took it upon ourselves to help her.”

And help her they did.

Classmate Alexis Dal Col tallied five goals on eight shots, while VanderMeulen added four scores, including the game-winner. Rounding out the scoring for the Crimson was rookie Danielle Tetreault, who finished with one score on two shots.

“Everyone else stepped up to the plate,” McMahon said.

Harvard fell behind in the game’s early minutes, but Dal Col and VanderMeulen each netter their first career goals in under 10 minutes of play to put the Crimson on top, 2-1.

Harvard’s lead would grow throughout the half.

With under a minute to play in the first frame, VanderMeulen took the ball herself and made her way to the goal, where she was able to put the ball past the Minutewomen’s goalkeeper to score her third goal of the game and give the Crimsona 6-4 lead heading into the break.

Dal Col struck first to start the second, and suddenly Harvard found itself up by three with less than 25 minutes to play.

But UMass would not give up easily, responding with three-straight tallies in less than 10 minutes of play to even the score at seven.

“We kind of relaxed a little bit,” VanderMeulen said. “We didn’t win as many draw controls, and UMass was able to take advantage of it.”

But with the game on the line, Harvard’s youngest players played like veterans.

Less than three minutes after the Minutewomen’s Merritt Cosgrove knotted the score, Dal Col was able to find the back of the net. The rookie took the ball unassisted and beat UMass’s Katie Florence to retake the lead.

Once again, the Minutewomen would claw their way back into the game, tying the score again off a shot from Haley Smith.

This time, VanderMeulen would be the one to step up, rushing down the field and scoring off a free position shot just 35 seconds later to give Harvard the 9-8 lead.

The Crimson defense would hold strong over the final 10 minutes of play, keeping UMass from getting on the scoreboard and giving Harvard the 10-8 victory.

Senior Katherine Martino anchored the Crimson in net, finishing with seven saves in her first victory of the season.

Harvard had the benefit of being able to scout the Minutewomen—who have already played four games this season—and was able to prepare for and respond to UMass’s aggressive and physical style of play.

“We kind of knew what to expect from UMass, and we tried to capitalize on their weaknesses,” VanderMeulen said. “We knew that UMass had high-pressure defense, so we tried to take them one-on-one.”

The strategy was largely successful, as only two of the Crimson’s 10 goals were assisted.

In addition to employing high defensive pressure, the Minutewomen also focused on shutting down Halpern, who accounted for 28 percent of her team’s scoring a season ago. Facing heavy defensive attention, Halpern was only able to come away with a single shot.

But with the addition of such an offensively-talented freshman class, Harvard’s opponents will soon have to think twice about where they focus their attention.

“I’m sure teams are going to go after [Halpern] again, until they realize they have more than one person to worry about,” McMahon said.

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.