W. Lacrosse Demolishes Dartmouth, 11-4

HANOVER, N.H.--If there is ever a time to blow out an opponent, it is right before the playoffs.

And for the Harvard women's lacrosse team, that time is now.

On Saturday, the Crimson traveled to Dartmouth for each team's last regular-season game.

The winner would make the playoffs, and the loser would have to pray that the NCAA Tournament selection committee look favorably upon them.

Harvard doesn't have to do the praying. It won big.

The 11-4 victory was not even as close as the score shows. In every aspect of the game, the Crimson simply decimated the Big Green.

On one end of the field, Harvard handcuffed the explosive Dartmouth offense, which had previously averaged 12.93 goals per game.

"It was awesome," co-captain Francie Walton said. "Defensively we played a smart game--our heads were in it. We passed when we should have and held on to it when we should have."

"Everyone was fired up and did what they had to do."

Dartmouth's prime weapon, 62-point scorer Lauren Holleran, was taken out of the game by Harvard senior Kelly Morrison. Holleran could only muster one goal and one shot all day.

"My plan was to deny her the ball so there'd be less chances for her to score," Morrison said. "It worked really well--she didn't touch it a lot."

Walton targeted another of the Big Green's weapons, Sarah Devens, who had compiled 25 goals and 17 assists this season. But under Walton's cover, Devens was shut out--no shots, goals or assists.

None of Dartmouth's players had more then one goal in the game.

"We had the matchups," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "Kelly Morrison is one of the most underrated players on our team, [and] she gives us a tremendous effort."

"I talked it up a lot," freshman goaltender Kate Schutt (14 saves, four goals allowed) said. "When the defense talks they can't be bet. When we did give up goals, they were just mistakes."

While the defense was holding Dartmouth by the neck, the Crimson's offense mercilessly attacked the Big Green goal. Harvard ultimately had fewer shots than Dartmouth--25 to 26--but many of Dartmouth's opportunities never had much of a chance to hit net.

It did take long for Harvard to gain the lead. Only a minute into the game, senior Sarah Downing (two goals, three assists) paced behind the Dartmouth goal with the ball and then spotted sophomore Megan Hall open in front.

Downing immediately fired a pass to Hall, who one-timed a shot past Big Green goaltender Kim Cohen.

"[We] work in practice on plays for isolating people," Downing said. "They worked really well today."

Dartmouth's defense clamped down after that, and the score remained at 1-0 for the next 10 minutes. But then, Harvard's offense burst open.

First, Downing deked by a defender and shot past Cohen. A minute later, after the Harvard defense stalled another Dartmouth attack, junior Sarah Winters took a pass on the transition and flipped a shot on net.

Walton added a goal, and after a Dartmouth timeout, Winters tallied her second. So in a period of only 3:34, the Crimson extended its lead from 1-0 to 5-0.

"It's frustrating [for them] not being able to score against us," Kleinfelder said. "Their defense could only do so much."

However, with 10:08 to go in the half, Dartmouth did get on the board with a bull run on net by Big Green midfielder Margaret Field.

The teams then scored a goal apiece to end the half with Harvard ahead, 6-2.

With the beginning of the second half, it looked as though the Big Green might get back in the game. For the first 15 minutes of the period, Dartmouth held Harvard scoreless, while adding two goals of its own on transition.

"There was a little bit of a lapse," Downing said. "Defensively we weren't getting back fast enough."

After the second of Dartmouth's two goals, the Harvard players held a short team meeting in front of their net to get themselves focused.

"We all said, `This is bullshit,'" co-captain Margot McAnaney said.

Thankfully for the Crimson, the players were right.

Less than a minute after what would be the Big Green's final goal, Downing found freshman Liz Schoyer (one goal, one assist) in front of the net unguarded.

Cohen never had a chance, as the point-blank shot zoomed past her. And just as Harvard's offense exploded in the middle of the first half, so it did in the second.

This time, however, it took only 2:37 for the Crimson to tally four goals, as senior Joey Alissi, Downing and senior Emily Buxton netted shots.

Alissi scored the last goal of the game with 8:11 left, and the Harvard blitzkrieg ended as Dartmouth finally changed goaltenders.

"We let up in the beginning of the second half," Walton said, "[but then] we brought it in and kept it going."

Then, all the Crimson could do was watch the scoreboard clock count down on its biggest and best victory of the year.

The Harvard bench, unsurprisingly enough, was euphoric.

"It was the best game ever," McAnaney said triumphantly. "We did exactly what we had to do--we showed ourselves and everybody else what we're capable of."

Later, as the interviews were winding down and as this reporter was eating a plum supplied by a thoughtful parent of one of the Harvard players, Kleinfelder walked over unsolicited and said, "I just want to say that I am very proud of this team."

The Crimson is quite deserving of that assessment.

Playoff Notes

Harvard is undoubtedly in the playoffs, but it remains to be seen when and where it will play. NCAA coaches will decide the pairings tonight, but this much is all but certain: Princeton and Maryland will get first round byes, while Loyola, Virginia and Harvard will join one other team in the first round.

That other team will either be Dartmouth or William and Mary. If it is Dartmouth, then the Crimson will host the Big Green next weekend. If not, then Harvard's plans for Saturday depends on where it is ranked and the respective travel costs for the four teams, since the pairings are made to minimize them.