Men's and Women's Lacrosse Squads Triumph

Spearheaded by five goals from Francesca Den Hartog, the Harvard women's lacrosse team tasted the sweet fruits of revenge in New Jersey Saturday, avenging last year's 7-6 NCAA tournament low to Princeton with a 12-6 romp over the Tigers.

The victory gave Harvard, ranked number two in the nation behind Penn State by a recent coaches poll, its sixth win in as many attempts.

The Crimson scored the first five goals of the fame before Sue Williams got Princeton on the board at 21:35 of the first half. The Tigers other five tallies came in the last five minutes of the second stanza when the game was out of reach.

New Rules

Maureen Finn opened things up for the laxwomen with a goal off a Cat Ferrante pass just 1;02 into the game. Den Hartog then notched two unassisted efforts at 8:25 and 14:28 that were followed by goals by Annie MacMillan and Jennifer White. Finn then ended the scoring for the half with a "go down, pass, pass shoot" goal from an assist from the ever present Den Hartog.

The Tigers never got closer as Harvard reeled off another string of five answered goals, to open up the second stanza.

Den Hartog said of the team's offensive performance "the attack worked well together. They came at us with a Zone defense, but we broke the zone early, so they went man-to-man, then we broke man-to-man. They didn't know what to do against us."

Goalie Charlotte Worsley, who gave up three goals while making eight saves before being replaced by freshman Lili Pew with ten minutes left in the game, drew equal praise for her defense.

"The Princeton offense pressured us at times, but the defense held tight. We forced them to take weak side, low percentage shots. It was exciting to see the team relaxed and playing so well together." she said.

The team's relaxed attitude can be attributed, at least in part, to a pre-game impromptu stickball game outside the Princeton Holiday Inn. Using the wrong end of a lacrosse stick, the defense defeated the attack 5-3.

Left wing defenseman Sarah Sewall termed the stickball game as "just a way of getting psyched together." The psyche worked extremely well for Sewall, who shut out Tiger right attack wing and U.S.national team member Natalie Bocock, Princeton's leading scorer.

THE NOTEBOOK: Annie MacMillan found the Princeton net three times to notch her first hat trick of the season. Maureen Finn, the team's playmaker at second home, dealt four assists on the day.