W. Lax Falls to Princeton

Sometimes your best just isn't good enough.

The Harvard women's lacrosse team played one of its best games of the season--at least for one half--but Princeton would not be denied, as the Tigers pulled off a 6-4 victory Saturday at Ohiri Field. HARVARD  4 PRINCETON  6

Princeton (8-2, 4-0 Ivy), ranked sixth in the nation, scored five goals in the first 12 minutes of the game to help mount a 6-3 halftime lead from which Harvard (3-6, 1-3) could not recover. With its win the Tigers dashed Harvard's hopes for an Ivy title, as even winning out would not be enough to give the Crimson a chance at the Ancient Eight crown.

The Tigers opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest, with the Ivy's leading scorer Cristi Samaras feeding Melissa Cully for the score. Four minutes later Samaras got on the scoreboard herself for the first of her two goals on the day.

Harvard junior defenseman Claudia Asano finally put the Crimson on the board at the 21:50 mark of the first half, and freshman Courtney Leimkuhler then added another later in the first.

Princeton continued its own offensive onslaught, holding a 6-2 advantage as the first half wound down. But just before the conclusion of the half Crimson freshman Erin Aeschliman netted a third goal for Harvard, cutting the lead to 6-3.

After allowing the Tiger offense to dominate the first half, however, the Crimson defense made a complete turn-around in the second. Led by superb goaltending from junior Kate Schutt, and some stubborn defense, Harvard was able to completely shut down the Princeton attack, holding the Tigers scoreless over the last 30 minutes to stay in the game.

"[Schutt] was awesome out there in the second half," Leimkuhler said. "She was all over everything, pumping us up and keeping us in the game. She was simply amazing."

Although the Harvard defense did its job in the second, the Crimson offense just couldn't come up with the scores to pull on the upset. Leimkuhler scored her second goal of the afternoon at 16:03 of the second half to pull Harvard to within two, but the stingy Tiger defense would allow the Crimson to get no closer.

"We are a strong one-on-one team, and they really clogged up the middle to give us few one-on-one opportunities," Leimkuhler said. "It was just an all-out fight between the two teams in the second half. We really matched up well against each other."

Despite coming up short in its upset bid, Harvard emerged from the match with renewed confidence after standing toe-to-toe with the nation's sixth best team. After starting the Ivy season with a less-than-ideal 1-3 record, the Crimson will look to build on the Princeton game as it tries to get some Ivy League wins under its belt, starting with Dartmouth on Wednesday.

"This match has definitely given us more confidence," Leimkuhler said. "We have a really big Ivy match against Dartmouth, and we really feel good going into it, especially after playing so well against Princeton."

Although the Crimson no longer has a chance of claiming the Ancient Eight crown this season, its strong performance against a top-notch opponent showed that it has the talent to compete on a high level. Now, as the second half of the season heats up, Harvard must prove that it can stay at that level.

PRINCETON, 6-4 at Lacrosse Field Princeton  6  0  --  6 Harvard  3  1  --  4

G: Princeton--Samaras(2),Burke, Cully, McCallister, Shaner; Harvard--Leimkuhler (2), Aeschliman, Asano. A: Princeton--Burke (2), Samaras (2); Harvard--Asano, Birch, Weeks. S: Princeton--Matler 3, Field 5; Harvard--Schutt 12.