No. 10 Dartmouth Rolls Over W. Lax 17-5

Sometimes when you play a great team, you dig down deep and play a season-breaking game. Sometimes, a great team simply plays great.

The Harvard women's lacrosse team (3-7, 1-4 Ivy) experienced the latter yesterday, traveling to Hanover, N.H., to get trounced by No. 10 Dartmouth, 17-5.

The Big Green (9-2, 6-0) went on an 8-1 run to close the first half putting the game far out of the reach of the struggling Crimson.

"[Dartmouth] moves the ball quickly and reacts well to the play," tri-captain Claudia Asano said. "That really showed towards the end of the first half."

Up until that point, the Crimson thought it was holding its own. Dartmouth struck for two early goals, but did not have the clear momentum in the game.

Asano then pulled Harvard within one. She weaved through a pair of defenders and rifled a shot past freshman goaltender Sarah Hughes.

"[Asano] challenged her man one-on-one," sophomore midfielder Jennifer Lee said. "She ripped one off; she has the hardest shot on the team."

At that point, the talent of the Big Green took over, led by their terrific trio of juniors, attackers Jacque Weitzel and Emily Fenwick and defenseman Kate Graw.

Graw exploded on sophomore goaltender Keltie Donelan for six goals, while Weitzel erupted for merely five strikes.

Fenwick, scoring only once, spent the game setting up her teammates. She notched four assists on the evening. Her five points moved her over the century mark for her career, a feat only 13 Dartmouth players have accomplished.

"The three of them have played together for a long time," Lee said. "That's a huge advantage, and they obviously stood out on the [Big Green] attack."

Lee managed the only other Harvard goal in that dreary first half. She moved down the middle of the defense off a free position and roofed the shot.

The second half brought more of the same, as Dartmouth opened with a 5-1 run, creating a gaping 15-3 Big Green lead with less than eight minutes to play.

At this point of the game, either Dartmouth relaxed a bit or Harvard found itself as the play evened out, and the Crimson controlled parts of the game. Harvard generated a few scoring chances and managed to narrow the second half deficit to 7-3.

Freshman attacker Heather Hussey scored twice in the second half, while senior midfielder Clare Parker tallied once in the half for Harvard

"We started to play a little better towards the end," Asano said. "But by then, it was a little too late."

Harvard had difficulty generating offensive chances with any regularity. The Dartmouth goaltenders--sophomore Elli Leahy replaced Hughed right before the end of the first half--only had to make seven saves on the day.

The offense never had any flow, and none of its goals came off an assist.

"We had good opportunities, but we were intimidated by their defense," Asano said. "They did a great job keeping us to the outside and we were nervous with the ball, turning it over."

Harvard had hoped to contain the Dartmouth juggernaut with aggressive, mistake-free play, but it could not sustain the effort.

"We had a lot of people matched up directly," Asano said. "We tried to make them use their other players and go outside. We simply got tired out there."

Donelan made 10 saves for Harvard.

This has been a disappointing season for the Crimson. It has lost its last three games by a combined 55-13.

The drive to salvage the remainder of the season begins this Friday when Harvard will host Notre Dame (8-5) at 3 p.m.

"We've got four games left and all of them are winnable," Lee said. "We can end this season on a positive note. Our last three losses have been against some of the best teams in the country." DARTMOUTH, 17-5 at Chase Field, Hanover N.H. Dartmouth  10  7  --  17 Harvard  2  3  --  5 G: Dart.--Graw (6), Weitzel (5), Meritt (2), Moulin, Fenwick, Burka Zimmer; Harvard--Hussey (2), Asano, Lee. A: Dart.--Fenwick (4), Frazier (3), Burka (2), Weitzel, Zimmer; Harvard--None. S: Dart.--7; Harvard--10