Laxwomen Snag Weekend Victories ...

The first thing is that Francesea Dent larding is still hurt. The second is Lilli Pew is still. The third is Lisa Black. Beth Mution and Alicia Clifton all still have seriously nagging injuries. And the fourth is that the Harvard women's lacrosse squad will still find a way to win.

So it didn't seem to matter this weekend that that quintet--almost half of the Crimson's starting line-up--was on the sidelines for some or all of the squad's two home games. Nor did it seem important that Harvard would need some spectacular performances from some old veterans and some new rookies. What was important was that the squad needed some wins.

And with that, the Crimson--its sideline packed with some pretty hefty talent--looked inward, and then pulled out one of its biggest victories of the year, a 20-5 thrashing of Yale on Saturday, and another equally important win, a 16-6 triumph over lowly Vermont yesterday.

The two victories upped the nation's sixth-ranked team's record to 9-3-1 (4-1 in Ivy play) and extended the squad's winning streak to five. More importantly, though, Saturday's victory over Ivy nemesis Yale, coupled with Dartmouth's one-goal win over Penn on the same day, sets up a Harvard-Dartmouth showdown for the Ivy title on Thursday. A Crimson victory over the still understood Big Green squad would give the laxwomen sole persuasions of the title.

But things weren't supposed to be this easy for the Crimson. A rush of recent mishaps, put Pew out with a knee injury, has kept DenHartog out of games with back problems, haw left Black. Mullen and Clifton bothered with leg injuries, and caused Crimson Coach Catole Kleinfelder to call several J.V. players up to the varsity ranks.

"We just can't afford another injury," Kleinfelder says of her squad, which has kept the Harvard training room busier than a midday traffic crunch in Harvard Square. "But, in a strange way," she adds, "the injuries have really brought the team a lot closer."

"It all forces us to work more as a team," says All-American Maureen Finn. "Everyone needs to cover up for everyone and back each other up."

But with the new mixture of youth and experience in the line-up Saturday, it took a while before the Crimson was able to display its new teamwork.

After 25 minutes, Harvard held a slim 4-2 lead.

Then, however, came the explosion. And by the time the dust had cleared, Harvard had bombarded Eli netminder Nada Sellers with a barrage of shots, lighting up the scoreboard 16 times to reach the 20-5 final score.

Along the way, DenHartog playing at well below 100 person, sparked the Crimson attacks sliding a whipping total of seven balls past sellers Fellow seniors Finn and Jennifer Whits, along with junior Maggie Hart combined their experience with the inspired play of yardlings Blair Wardenburg and Clifton to shut down the Eli attack.

Toppled Vermont

And less than 24 hours after the Crimson had banded Yale its seventh loss in 11 games on the year, the squad returned to Soldiers Field to topple a week Vermont squad. With DenHartog on the sidelines, the spotlight turned to Finn, who notched five goals and four assists to lead Harvard. Both White and Hart added their second straight hat tricks to provide the Crimson's other major scoring punches.

"We picked up right where we left off against Yale," Kleinfelder said after yesterday's contest. "We just got a little tired in the middle."

The Crimson will get little rest, however with UNH rolling into town Tuesday, just two days before the showdown with Dartmouth THE NOTEBOOK. The squad gave Saturday's game ball to Pew, who underwent successful knee surgery last week. Kleinfelder said yesterday that the squad has voted to skip next weekend's EAIAW tournament to rest for the upcoming NCAA tourney.