Crosstown Rival Hands Harvard Women's Lacrosse Third Straight Defeat

The struggles continue for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team.

Hosting No. 14/20 Boston College at Harvard Stadium on Wednesday night, the Crimson dropped its third straight game, falling to the Eagles, 7-5.

After taking an early 5-1 lead, Boston College withstood a late Harvard comeback attempt to snap a two-game losing streak of its own.

Despite holding the Eagles (5-4, 1-1 ACC) to a season-low seven goals, the Crimson (2-4, 0-2 Ivy) was unable to figure out the Boston College defense. Harvard, which entered the contest averaging 9.2 goals per game, was held to just two goals over the first 50 minutes of play, eventually finishing with five—its lowest offensive output since April 2009.

"We’re not executing," sophomore attack Chelsey Newman said. "We just need to work on limiting turnovers."

The Crimson coughed up the ball 10 times during the game and connected on just five of 18 shot attempts.

Junior midfielder Nina Kucharczyk paced the Crimson offense with two goals on four shots. After going scoreless in Harvard’s first four games, Kucharczyk has been on a tear as of late, posting a pair of scores in the Crimson’s past two contests.

"She’s a little bit more comfortable with the position that she’s playing in," Harvard coach Lisa Miller said. "She’s an athletic kid, and she’s tough to manage."

Kucharczyk’s second score of the night brought the Crimson within two, 7-5, with 5:47 to play.

Sophomore Kasey Uhlenhuth captured the ensuing draw control to give Harvard possession of the ball with a chance to pull within a single goal.

Boston College’s stingy defense kept the Crimson away from the net for nearly two minutes. With just over three minutes to go, junior midfielder Danielle Tetreault got past her defender and penetrated to the net. But Tetreault’s shot attempt was swallowed up by Eagles goalie Emily Mata, who finished with eight saves on the evening.

The Crimson had one last chance after junior Jennifer VanderMeulen caused a turnover with 1:50 to go, but co-captain Melanie Baskind’s attempt with 68 seconds left on the clock was stopped by Mata.

The Eagles took possession of the ball and ran out the clock to secure the two-goal win. Boston College, which was led offensively by Brittany Wilton (two goals), Moira Barry (one goal, one assist), and Brooke Blue (one goal, one assist), got off to a quick start, posting three goals in the first five minutes of play.

"We got off to a slow start," Miller said. "I think [Boston College] played a little bit faster than the last couple of opponents that we’ve played."

Wilton took the game’s opening draw control, and less than three minutes later Kristin Igoe put the Eagles on the board.

Boston College did not waste much time tacking on its second score. After Katherine Caufield won the ensuing draw control, the Eagles got the ball to Sam Taylor who finished her lone score of the game 10 seconds later.

Tetreault responded with her 10th goal of the season on the Crimson’s next possession, but Boston College went back up by two with 25:18 to go thanks to a Cali Ceglarski finish.

Barry and Brooke tacked on goals of their own to give the Eagles a commanding 5-1 lead before 15 minutes had ticked off the clock.

"We don’t always play at pace," Miller said. "We kind of wait for other team to speed us up instead of setting the tempo on our own."

After being held scoreless for more than 15 minutes of play, the Crimson received its second score of the night after Kucharczykbounced a shot past Mata with 9:53 to play.

Rookie goalkeeper Kelly Weiss kept Harvard within three with a pair of saves before the buzzer brought an end to the first period.

Weiss held the Eagles scoreless for the first 19 minutes of the second frame, but the Crimson offense failed to capitalize. After Harvard missed its first four shot attempts of the half, Wilton put the Eagles up, 7-2, with 10:44 to play, off back-to-back goals in a span of 46 seconds.

Harvard got scores from VanderMeulen, Baskind, and Kucharczyk in the final 10 minutes of play, but it was too little too late, and the Eagles emerged with just their seventh win over the Crimson in 34 meetings.

The loss marks Harvard’s third straight to a ranked opponent. The Crimson will get its next chance at taking down a ranked foe on March 31 when it hosts No. 2 Syracuse at Gillette Stadium.

"We play probably one of the toughest schedules in the country," Miller said. "There’s no time for let downs or feeling sorry for yourself."

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.