Laxwomen Blast Green; Bag Ivy Title

The "Big Game" against the Big Green turned out to be small potatoes for the Harvard women's lacrosse team.

Julie Clifford netted five goals as the Crimson speared Dartmouth, 13-5, and nabbed its third consecutive Ivy League title yesterday at Ohiri Field.

No problem.

The key to an upset by the Green would have been the quick stickwork of offensive terror Anne Moellering. Moellering, with 52 goals and five assists going into the game, has sent fear to the hearts of many an Ivy League goalie.

But then, she's never met Harvard defenseman Maggie Vaughan.

"Moellering's been double-teamed all year, but I don't think that we have to double-team anyone," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "Maggie can handle just about anybody one-on-one."

Vaughan held Moellering to three goals, diminishing the Green's chief offensive threat.

"We weren't particularly worried about her," Kleinfelder said. "I know her stats are great, but we didn't think that we were going to have a problem."

Lynn Frangione, Julia French and Co-Captain Katie McAnaney joined Vaughan in the stellar defensive line. The guts of the Big Green (8-4 overall, 3-3 Ivy) are in its speedy attack, but the Crimson (10-0, 6-0) couldn't be bothered.

"They did exactly what we thought they would," McAnaney said. "We knew they were going to run the crease so we concentrated on stopping them and once we stopped that, they really didn't have too much else to come at us with."

The Crimson defense outshone the Green offense, and Harvard's offense didn't hesitate to pitch in its efforts.

Char Joslin started off the scoring rampage with a shovel between Tori Maxmin's legs at 19:13. Joslin pulled off her second hat trick of the season with three goals.

And Clifford came out of her shell and surprised the Big Green with her season-high five goals.

"I got most of my goals coming around the crease," Clifford said. "There were little holes and I guess I found them."

Joslin, Clifford and Frangione hit the first three goals within a two minute span.

The Big Green didn't know what hit them.

With about 14 minutes left in the half, Dartmouth fought back when Martha Boss landed a free-position shot.

Dartmouth managed two more goals that period, both by Moellering. Joslin and McAnaney scraped up a goal each, and Clifford flung in two more.

Becky Gaffney got the "Kodak picture" play of the game. Gaffney took the ball next to the goalpost and, with her back turned, shot the ball over her shoulder into the net.

With five seconds left in the half, Julia French slammed in her own tally, hiking the score to 9-3.

Short-Lived Hopes

It ain't over 'til it's over.

Ginger Smith gave Dartmouth hope with a goal in the first 20 seconds of the second half. But Jenny Walser got in on the shooting scene with a goal to answer, putting the score at 10-4.

Clifford, Joslin, and Walser each added another goal and Moellering slipped by Vaughan once more to round out the second-half scoring.

The set plays for attack added to the Crimson's offensive prowess.

"What made the big difference is that we really got our settled attack to contribute to the game," McAnaney said, "something we haven't done in past games."

Kleinfelder couldn't complain.

"We sized it up pretty well and it worked out the way we wanted to," Kleinfelder said.