Women's Lacrosse Comeback Falls Short, Crimson Drops Home Opener

Home was not so sweet for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team.

Despite a second-half rally, the Crimson (2-3, 0-1 Ivy) was unable to extricate itself from a 7-1 halftime deficit, as Harvard dropped its home opener to No. 11 Boston University (4-2), 13-9, on Wednesday.

After ratcheting up its defensive intensity and receiving offensive production from newcomers Jennifer VanderMeulen and Melanie Baskind, the Crimson was able to cut a seven-goal deficit to as little as three in just under nine minutes of play.

“I think we have a lot of fight in us,” freshman Danielle Tetreault said. “We knew that we weren’t playing up to our potential [in the first half].”

Baskind, a sophomore playing her first season of lacrosse, ignited Harvard’s offense, which had been held to just one score over the first 33 minutes of play. Baskind used a free-position shot to net the Crimson’s second goal, then notched her second score of the game two minutes later off a pass from freshman Micaela Cyr.

VanderMeulen got in on the action just minutes later, going unassisted for her second score of the game, closing the margin to 8-4.

“I kind of knew that our team needed some goals and that we were in a slump,” VanderMeulen said.

Baskind then found freshman Alexis Dal Col open for the score, making it four straight goals for Harvard.

Meanwhile, the Crimson clamped down defensively, keeping the Terriers off the scoreboard for nearly 10 minutes of play.

“Our defense had a great second half,” VanderMeulen said. “They weren’t willing to step down at all. They really got us going on our comeback.”

At least partly accounting for the defense’s second-half success was coach Lisa Miller’s decision to switch from zone to man-to-man defense, which allowed Harvard to apply greater pressure and to come away with interceptions.

“We went into man [defense] and tried to get them out of rhythm,” junior defender Sam McMahon said. “It’s all about pressure on the ball.”

The move was largely successful, as the defense forced BU to cough up the ball 11 times in the second half.

But the Crimson defense could not keep the Terriers off the scoreboard forever.

Less than a minute after Dal Col’s shot cut the BU lead to three, the Terriers responded with two quick scores, courtesy of Jenny Taft and McKinley Curro.

Co-captain Sara Flood got Harvard back within four, but a 10-minute scoring drought doomed the Crimson. VanderMeulen netted two scores in the game’s final five minutes, but it was too little too late.

“We were disappointed in the first half with our efforts,” McMahon said. “In the second half we just pulled together. We had more pride.”

The Terriers dominated the opening minutes, rattling off five-straight scores to start the contest. Behind Taft’s two first-half goals, BU led 7-1 at the break.

“They clearly were bigger and taller than us,” McMahon said. “They just go so hard. They just try to ram it down your throat.”

The Crimson was also sloppy controlling the ball in the early going, turning it over 13 times to open the game.

VanderMeulen netted Harvard’s only score of the opening frame, her first of four in the contest—a game high.

VanderMeulen did most of her scoring despite facing double-teams throughout the contest.

“[VanderMeulen] was getting swarmed,” McMahon said. “They had a marked defender on her.”

Double teams are something the high-scoring rookie will have to get used to following an injury to last season’s leading scorer, Jess Halpern.

“Now she’s kind of the one handling the ball the most,” McMahon said. “She’s definitely not playing like a freshman.”

But the Crimson knows that it will take consistent play from the game’s opening minutes—rather than the play of any one individual—to get on the right side of the win column.