Princeton Dumps Laxmen; Women Crush Cornell

The Harvard women's lacrosse team worked some of the kinks out of its offense Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y., as the Crimson treated host Cornell to a 20-2 thrashing.

The victory raised the laxwomen's record to 13-0 and clinched at least a share of the Ivy title. UPenn, whose single loss came at the hands of Harvard, is the Crimson's only possible challenger for the crown.

Francesca Den Hartog, who broke her own single-season scoring mark of 45 goals last Wednesday against Brown, led the Harvard offense with six goals and two assists.

The scoring wonder blew the game wide open with three goals in the first five minutes, including a tally only 17 seconds into the game, to open the Crimson's scoring barrage.

The rest of the Crimson attack pulled its weight as well. All five of the offensive players notched at least two goals, including Cat Ferrante, who played only the second half but still managed a hat trick and three assists.

The high-powered scoring, however, was not the only thing that pleased the laxwomen. After a lackluster performance against Brown, marked by sloppy passing and poor execution, the offense demonstrated superb ball control in Ithaca.

"This game was a real turnaround for the offense," right attack wing Annie MacMillan said. "We did a lot of sharp passing and concentrated on assisting goals."

Indeed, the Crimson's passing was sharper than it has been all year. Thirteen of the team's 20 goals came directly off the pass, the highest count so far this season.

The laxwomen will need all the offensive execution they can muster this weekend when they face some tougher competition at the University of Rhode Island, the site of this year's EAIAW tournament.

The Crimson, with the only undefeated record in the Northeast, will probably face the University of New Hampshire--which Den Hartog described as a "tough tournament team" --in the first round.

A first-round win would qualify Harvard for a spot in the finals, probably against UMass, a team the Crimson beat in a 6-5 heartstopper April 18 in Amherst.

The tournament will decide the Northeast's representative to the national tournament at Penn State May 15-17.

This week, in regular season competition, the laxwomen will have a chance to make it 14 in a row as they take on Northeastern here Wednesday.

THE NOTEBOOK: Freshman goalie Lili Pew got her first start of the year in Ithaca, going the distance while mishandling only two of Cornell's six tries... Wistie Oppenlander, who replaced an injured Ferrante against Brown and who played the first half Saturday before Ferrante replaced her, upped her two-game totals to five goals and four assists with two tallies and three assists--all in the first 25 minutes.