Harvard Dropped By No. 13 Stanford

Some teams prefer to ease into their seasons by playing easier games towards the beginning of their schedules and gradually increasing the level of difficulty.

Such a philosophy is certainly not the case for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team, which travelled to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on No. 13 Stanford at Cagan Stadium yesterday.

With 9:53 to go in the game, an early-season upset looked very realistic for the unranked road team, as junior tri-captain Melanie Baskind scored to put the Crimson (0-1) up, 17-16, in a high-scoring affair.

But goals by the Cardinal’s Karen Nesbitt and Jackie Candelaria propelled Stanford on a 2-0 run to end the game, helping the hosts (4-0) squeak out an 18-17 victory.

The Crimson jumped out to an early 2-0 lead off of back-to-back goals from sophomore Danielle Tetreault, 1:26 and 2:18 into the game, respectively.

“We came out hard, and we came out pumped up,” said Tetreault, who led the game with a career-high six goals on the afternoon.

But Tetreault was quick to defer to her teammates.

“I think that we all worked hard,” Tetreault said. “It was just how the game went.”

Late in the first half, Harvard built its largest lead of the contest, thanks to a score from sophomore Micaela Cyr which put the Crimson up, 9-5.

Coming out of a timeout, Candelaria tallied one of her four goals on the afternoon, starting a 4-0 Stanford run to end the half with the score tied at nine.

The Cardinal carried its momentum into the start of the second half, scoring three straight goals. Tetreault finally scored with 25:11 to go to stop the bleeding.

But according to tri-captain Sam McMahon, the quick scores by Stanford were crucial momentum shifts in favor of the Cardinal.

McMahon, who was pleased with her team’s execution in the first half, was quick to applaud Stanford’s ability to use motion or set plays to baffle Harvard.

With the Crimson down by five—its biggest deficit of the game—with less than 20 minutes remaining in the second half, Harvard was still not ready to go away.

The Crimson went on a 6-0 run that involved goals by five different players and eventually retook the lead off of Baskind’s go-ahead goal with under 10 minutes to play.

“I just kind of saw a lane and went for it,” Baskind said.

But Harvard did not hold on to the lead for long, surrendering two consecutive goals to its hosts.

Despite the loss, the Crimson was still pleased with its comeback effort.

“I was really, really proud of our team,” Baskind said. “It was always about just getting the next draw.”

Harvard’s ability to finally start to win draw controls in its comeback attempt was crucial.

“They had been winning them and, you know, coming down and scoring,” McMahon said.

Though the comeback attempt was eventually for naught, it did speak to the potential for this year’s team.

“We’re just more composed this year,” Tetreault said.

The Crimson’s offensive production wasn’t the sole reason it was able to battle back from a five-goal deficit.

“We had a few defensive stands, and that helped with the momentum too,” McMahon said.

She added that she thought Harvard’s defense was successful at being able to identify the plays the Cardinal ran.

Goalie Kerry Clark had a game-high nine saves for the Crimson, six of which came in the second half.

Coming into the game, Stanford had been riding a three-game win streak to open up the season, including wins against powerhouses Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Harvard opens up Ivy League play next Saturday at Cornell.

“It’s good to get that under our belt before moving on to the Ivy League next weekend,” Tetreault said.