Women Booters Destroy Dartmouth, 8-0

Powered by the one-two punch of freshman strikers Alicia Carrillo and Kelly Landry, the Harvard women's soccer team trounced the "never-say-die" Dartmouth squad, 8-0, for its eighth consecutive victory of the season this morning at the Business School.

In a solid team effort, the booters dominated the contest, outshooting the Hanoverians, 33-1, and hemming the visitors in their end for most of the game.

The Crimson combined its superior ball control skills with longer "leading" passes to effectively penetrate the tenacious Big Green defense.

"Dartmouth marked everyone very closely and pressured us throughout the game, but no team can run that hard for 90 minutes," Harvard assistant coach Sussana Kaplan said after the game. "We just spread it out and then attacked. Kelly and Alicia were on the ball all day."

Before the Dartmouth backline had time to survey the Harvard lineup and adjust to the morning glare, the Crimson struck. Just 1:22 into the contest, co-captain Cat Ferrante split the Big Green fullbacks with a pin-point feed to the streaking Carrillo, who blasted a low drive into the twines.

Moments later, Carrillo once again proved too much for the visiting 11. Dribbling down the left sideline, the Wellesley native eluded two defenders and launched a left-footed bullet past the sprawling goalie, Sarah Burrell, to give Harvard a 2-0 lead.

Not to be outdone, fellow forward Landry executed some fancy footwork of her own to up the Crimson's lead to three. At 19:56 Landry and halfback Inga Larson played give-and-go at the expense of the Dartmouth backs with Landry completing the exchange with her 13th goal of the season, a hard ten-yarder from the left side.

Four minutes later Landry and Carrillo combined again to dazzle the colorful crowd of about 150. At 23:03 Landry directed a crossing pass to the cutting Carrillo, who, without trapping the ball, chipped it over the outstretched arms of Burrell with the outside of her foot to complete the first-half scoring.

While the Crimson could simply have sat on its 4-0 halftime lead, Landry kept the pressure on, showing the extra hustle that has made her the team's leading scorer. At 9:20, the Lexington native dribbled by three Big Green defenders on the 18 yard line and rifled a drive toward the near corner of the goal. The ball deflected off the goalpost into the crease where the alert Landry knocked it home.

After Larson's lofting centering pass came down just under the crossbar at 24:55 to widen Harvard's lead to six, senior Ellen Jakovic tallied her first goal of the season to up the margin to seven. Taking a feed from sub Becky Gaghen at 35:30, the fullback-turned-wing found the upper righthand corner of the goal.