Sophomores Lead Harvard Over Crusaders

Last season, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team defeated Holy Cross, 15-9, extending its winning streak against the Crusaders to six games.

Last night, the Crimson (6-4. 3-1 Ivy) kept the streak going, beating Holy Cross (5-10, 2-2 Patriot), 10-6, at Holy Cross Field.

“I think that today we came out and we played well,” said sophomore midfielder Danielle Tetreault who finished the night with three goals and an assist. “They were a good defensive team and controlled the ball well, but we came up with some draw controls and had possession for most of the game which really helped us because if you have possession you can score goals. We kind of dominated that side of the field.”

After taking an early 2-0 lead, Harvard never looked back, outscoring the Crusaders, 5-3, in each of the halves.

“Taking an early lead is really important,” Tetreault said. “It’s something we’ve been striving for because it’s that kind of quick start that really helps. We don’t want to be coming from behind every game.  We want to be able to play throughout the whole game and not let an opponent get away from us.”

Harvard gained its first goal barely three minutes into the game, when sophomore attacker Jennifer VanderMeulen scored off of a free-position shot.

Four and a half minutes later, junior midfielder Tyler Petropulos followed her teammate’s lead and scored another unassisted goal for the Crimson to put the team up by two.

But Harvard had difficulty pulling away with the lead as the Crusaders battled back thanks to a trio of scores—including one from Maddie Carrellas who led Holy Cross with a pair of goals.

“We knew that they were going to be a pretty decent team and we prepared in practice for them, but their style of play was just something we had to adjust to,“ freshman Chelsey Newman said.

Despite the home team’s rally the Crimson went into the break with an 18-5 shot advantage and a 5-3 lead, thanks to a late score from VanderMeulen with 13 seconds left to the half.

Coming out of halftime, VanderMeulen kept the visitor’s momentum alive, scoring the half’s first goal and her third of the night.

The Crusaders made an attempt at a comeback, putting up two scores over the next 12 minutes of play and cutting their deficit to a single goal.

But this was the closest Holy Cross would come to the lead.

With 10:15 left in the matchup, Newman finished an unassisted goal to put Harvard up again by two. And two minutes later, Tetreault found the back of the net off a Petropulos feed, bringing the score to 8-5.

The Crusaders scored once more in the final eight minutes of the game, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Crimson which scored twice more in the match.

VanderMeulen assisted Tetreault on her third goal of the night, and with only 13 seconds remaining, Petropulos scored one last time to lead Harvard to a 10-6 victory.

The Crimson ended the night outshooting Holy Cross, 30-22, and with eight turnovers compared to the Crusaders’ 15.

Though the Harvard defense lost the battle in saves, 11-7, it ended the night without allowing Holy Cross’s leading scorer, Kat Sutton, to find the net once, putting a stop to her 43-game scoring streak.

Despite the win and defensive achievement, the Crimson felt it could have come out stronger.

“Holy Cross is a good team,” tri-captain Sam McMahon said. “But we eased our way in, and didn’t really have that much energy. We needed to pick that up in the second half, and we were just kind of slow to start and made some turnovers. Still, in the end, we focused and got the job done.”

“I think we weren’t really ready for the type of game they were playing but I think we adjusted well and still came out with a win,” Newman added.