Women's Lacrosse Notches First Victory

Five was the magic number for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team Tuesday as it earned its first win this year in the fifth game of its season against Marquette. Captain Micaela Cyr drilled a game-high five goals and handed out one assist for six points. The tallies tie the midfielder’s career high.

“[Cyr]’s sneaky,” Crimson coach Lisa Miller said. “She flies into space really well. She took advantage of people by making fakes and her teammates found her. She’s crafty off the ball.”

The Crimson (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) stormed past the Golden Eagles (2-6) for a convincing win, 18-4, at Valley Fields.

After several dropped games with a quiet offense, Harvard players outshot Marquette, 35-9.

“I feel we ran our offense well,” Miller said. “We’re pretty balanced and I think when we stay in it a lot of different people are able to get shots off. I think one of the things that helped us in that game is that we cleared the ball pretty well too so our offense had more opportunities.’

Senior midfielder Danielle Tetrault provided seven shots, with five on goal and four evading Golden Eagle goaltenders Sarah Priem and Emma Salter.

“I thought Danielle had a lot of opportunities off the dodge,” Miller said. “I thought she went right and left so she gave herself more opportunities by going both ways.”

Cyr followed her teammate with six shots and freshman attack Alexis Nicolia was close behind with five.

The Crimson ran out to an early lead, with Tetrault drilling the first score of the contest just two minutes in. Harvard would score four more times before Marquette made it onto the board.

“I think we got through our systems better,” Cyr said. “We were moving the ball and getting long possessions. A lot of different people scored, which was good, and once we got that lead we started rotating people in.”

The Golden Eagles were held to just one goal through the first frame, which came almost ten minutes into the period. A foul on Harvard senior midfield Mariel Jenkins, who had a career-record and game-high four ground balls during the game, caused a valid clear attempt by Marquette. Golden Eagle freshman Hayley Baas capitalized on the turnover to connect with the back of the net on an unassisted goal.

But the Crimson was quick to respond, as Cyr won a draw control and soon snapped the ball into the net for her second goal. Cyr’s goal began a 7-0 run for Harvard that gave the team an 11-point edge at the half.

Though Marquette was able to notch three scores in the second half, it was too late for the Golden Eagles as the Crimson stretched its advantage to as large as 13 early in the closing stanza.

In a true team effort, nine Harvard players scored a goal for the team during the game and seven had multiple points.

Conversely, only four players from Marquette made it onto the scoreboard and just one player had more than one point, freshman attack Claire Costanza, who had one point and two assists. The defensive unit was crucial in thwarting potential goal opportunities by the Golden Eagle attack.

“I think [the defensemen] are good on ball and they worked well together so they collapse the space well,” Miller said. “I think they’ve been doing a nice job.”

The victory snaps a four game losing streak that saw the Crimson open its season without a win.

“If everybody contributes we’re even better and more difficult to mark,” Miller said. ”The more people willing to contribute, the better you are because you’re more difficult to defend.”

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordeliamendez@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.