Women's Lacrosse Looks To Bounce Back Against Eagles

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team’s matchup with Boston College Wednesday night features two teams in a very similar position; both are talented squads coming off a pair of tough road losses that are looking to regain momentum heading into the heart of their seasons.

While the Eagles (4-4, 1-1 ACC) are clinging to their No. 20 national ranking, the Crimson (2-3, 0-2 Ivy) is attempting to avoid a defeat that would place it a full two games below .500 with a difficult schedule coming up.

“We just have to keep working,” co-captain Ellen Gleason said. “That’s what we did when we got back to practice [on Monday]—worked hard to prepare for Wednesday.”

The Eagles will provide another hurdle for an already battle-tested Harvard squad. Boston College has scored at least 10 goals in every game this year, and each of its four losses have come against teams ranked in the top 20.

The Crimson’s last two contests were both one-goal affairs that ended in its opponent’s favor. While it played tough against Penn and Johns Hopkins—two ranked opponents—the losses revealed areas for improvement.

“We lost those one-goal games because we struggled to put two halves together, and that’s a problem both defensively and offensively,” Gleason said. “What we’re working towards is to play hard from the minute the whistle blows to start the game until the very end.”

Senior attacker Jess Halpern agreed, noting that Harvard should be encouraged by its strong showings against top programs.

“We can’t dwell on the fact that we lost; we just need to go into BC and turn it around and know that we can play with these teams—a lot of them being top 20 teams,” Halpern said. “But we know we can play with them; we just need to finish.”

To come out on top against an offensive-minded team like Boston College, the Crimson defense must be stingy throughout and will likely need to key on two Eagles’ freshmen: Mikaela Rix, who leads the Eagles in goals with 27, and Covie Stanwick, who has dished out 12 assists on the year.

Stanwick and Rix were the number two and three recruits in their high school class, respectively, according toInsideLacrosse magazine. The pair has been catalysts for Boston College’s offense thus far and stopping them will be key for a Harvard victory.

In addition to stopping the Eagles’ talented freshman duo, the Crimson will also have to counter Boston College’s athleticism.

“They are a good, fast team, and we are just looking to come out faster and harder,” junior attacker Jennifer VanderMeulen said. “It will be very important for us to focus on the draw controls and ball possession and also take high-quality opportunities.”

On offense, Harvard hopes to limit turnovers and simple mistakes. According to Halpern, the Harvard coaching staff has been especially focused on the fundamentals in practice to attempt to mitigate some of these mistakes.

“[We’ve focused on] little things like draw control and staying down on ground balls,” Halpern said. “On offense, we need to make sure we’re possessing the ball and not just forcing it to the middle.”

The Crimson will look for big games from co-captain Melanie Baskind and juniors Micaela Cyr and Danielle Tetreault, who lead the Crimson with nine goals apiece. Freshman goalie Kelly Weis will also play an important role in limiting the Eagles and keeping their high-powered offense from getting going. If Weis can limit Boston College early on, Harvard will have a good chance of pulling off the win.

The Eagles are 0-4 this year when trailing at the half, and 0-3 when their opponent scores first.

Wednesday’s game will be especially important as both teams look toward the NCAA tournament. The winner will have earned an important regional victory, an out-of-conference resume builder, and Beantown bragging rights.

“It’s the battle for Boston,” Halpern said. “It’s a regional game, which is important for earning a tournament berth. But every game on our schedule is really important from here on out. Our coaches are preparing us well, and hopefully we can pull of a ‘W’ tomorrow.”