Sister Act Propels Squad to Undefeated Opening Weekend

The Harvard field hockey team (2-0) completed an undefeated opening weekend, overcoming a negated buzzer-beating goal to win in overtime to cap off the weekend with a 3-2 win over Lafayette (0-2).

The Crimson started the weekend with a 4-0 shutout of Holy Cross (0-3) on Friday at Hart Turf Field in Worcester before taking the field against the Leopards at Jordan Field.

“Great opening weekend,” Crimson coach Sue Caples said. “It is an opportunity to learn about the team and see what we do well and see how we execute under pressure against two really good opponents—especially Lafayette, a well-coached team—so that was a significant win.”

The Crimson will look to continue the success into next weekend at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

HARVARD 3, LAFAYETTE 2

The Crimson rallied after a call negated the winning goal for Harvard at the end of regulation, pulling out the victory in overtime.

“It was a pretty difficulty opening weekend,” sophomore Bridget McGillivray said. “We usually don’t have such a challenging and strong team on opening weekend such as Lafayette, and I think we stepped up to that challenge.”

Harvard had appeared to score a goal as the regulation buzzer sounded, but as the team swarmed at center field to celebrate, the referees gathered and negated the goal due to an infraction.

“It would have been a wonderful way to walk off the field but there was a foul,” Caples said. “We were able to leave it and transition into overtime, and I think that speaks volumes for the leadership out there and the players being able to make that transition.”

The team then had to regroup and try to win the game again in overtime, during which the Crimson used the momentum of its regulation goal to lead its strong performance in overtime.

“That was pretty difficult [having the goal negated] but I actually think that is the reason why we came out so hard in overtime,” McGillivray said. “We wanted to settle it right away.”

The Crimson came out on fire to start the extra frame, drawing multiple penalties from the Leopards.

Five minutes into overtime, Harvard freshman Sydney Jenkins took the ball into the Lafayette zone and drew a foul.

The Crimson then entered the ball from the corner to Georgia McGillivray, who rifled a shot that her younger sister Bridget redirected into the goal, setting off a second—and official—celebration for Harvard.

“We all really wanted to end it [after the penalty],” Bridget McGillivray said. “Such a great opportunity: [on an] overtime short corner, they only have three players, so we can really use our skills, and Georgia put a great ball in, and I just put the stick down [and deflected it in].”

HARVARD 4, HOLY CROSS 0

The Crimson got off to a great start in the first half, taking a 3-0 lead before finishing off the Crusaders.

“We had lots of preparations and pregame talks,” Bridget McGillivray said. “Our coaches had scouted out these teams beforehand, so we knew what to expect. We were definitely ready.”

The Crimson was led behind the strong play of goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos, who recorded four saves leading to the shutout.

Georgia McGillivray got Harvard on the board with her penalty corner goal nine and a half minutes into the contest.

Sophomore teammate Rachel Rosenfeld added to the lead by scoring off a pass from co-captain Carly Dickson.

The Crimson’s Jenkins deflected a shot into the goal making the score 3-0 with 1:17 left in the first half. The lead proved too much for Holy Cross to overcome.

“You get exposed by good teams,” Caples said. “And so we learned a lot about ourselves: things we will work on, but also the strengths, and we are pretty excited about what those are.”

Harvard continued to play well in the second half and completed the shut-out behind the work of Tassopoulos and an added goal from Bridget McGillivray.

“It is so awesome to win right from the start [of the season],” the younger McGillivray said. “We really need that boost of confidence. We are off to a strong start and we hope it carry it on.”

—Staff writer Cameron Dowd can be reached at camerondowd14@college.harvard.edu.