W. Lax Edges Columbia, 6-5

Call them over-confident. Call them inconsistent. Call them lucky. But a win is still a win. COLUMBIA  5 HARVARD  6

Yesterday at Ohiri Field, the Harvard women's lacrosse team (5-7, 2-4 Ivy) barely scraped out its second Ivy League victory against the Columbia Lions (5-9, 0-7 Ivy), winning 6-5.

In the last home game of their Harvard careers, tri-captain Claudia Asano and senior Clare Parker led the team with two goals apiece. Not to be left out of the action, the only other senior on the team, tri-captain Laura Dahmen, also netted one for the Crimson.

Freshmen standout Erin Kutner also played an impressive defensive game, sparking the scrappy Crimson in some critical moments.

The Crimson was a little surprised to be challenged by the Lions.

"We came out a little cocky and it didn't helpus," Kutner said. "It was really frustrating. We'dscore and do some good things, but we couldn'tkeep it going."

The Crimson jumped on the scoreboard early withAsano scoring on a free position less than aminute into the game.

Once on the board, Harvard never fell behind,but by no means did the Crimson dominate.

At the 25:00 mark, Columbia freshman TeresaMulaikal snagged a fast high pass and dished itoff to sophomore Caroline Samponaro, who scoredthe Lions' first goal.

Over the next few minutes, Harvard had severalopportunities to score, but nothing materializedfor the Crimson.

Finally Kutner took things into her own hands.Dodging the Columbia sticks, Kutner brought theball all the way down the field and found Dahmen,who netted the Crimson's second goal.

For the next ten minutes, things continued togo back and forth. No player could find the backof the cage because of some solid goalkeeping onboth sides.

Sophomore goalie Keltie Donelan demonstratedconsistency for the Crimson once again, recordingher fifth win of the season. Donelan played theentire sixty minutes and tallied six saves, not tomention silencing a few seemingly-unstoppableColumbia plays in the second half.

But the Lions' goalie put up a formidable wallof her own. Freshman goalie Gina Kline played anincredible game for Columbia, stopping 16 shots.

"A few players put in some fast shots and somewell-placed shots," Kline said. "But for the mostpart, I think we were pretty evenly matched."

Kline's aggression shut out the Crimsonattackers for the remainder of the half, butColumbia found the back of the net one last time.

With just under 5:00 left in the first half,sophomore Lily Cope launched a long pass thatfound the stick of sophomore Devin Fitzpatrick.With no Harvard defender in her path, Fitzpatrickfired one by Donelan. The rest of the Crimsonplayers were left watching from the other side ofthe field.

Calling a time out, the Crimson players triedto get their heads back in the game, but controlcontinued to bounce back and forth amidst a sea ofyellow flags. The scoreboard remained unchanged asgoalies on both ends put a stop to shots on freepositions.

The half ended with the teams deadlocked, 2-2.Unfortunately, the play didn't get much prettierin the second half.

"We didn't play the whole game as a team,"junior tri-captain Becca Brown said. "We had someinconsistency with our intensity. For a fewminutes we'd be playing hard and working together,but then we'd lose it and Columbia would score."

The half began with a series of dropped passesand scrambling sticks, with bodies and balls alikefalling to the ground.

Finally, Harvard freshman Heather Husseysnagged a pass and managed to hold onto it longenough to score. The Crimson took back the lead at3-2.

For the next four minutes, sloppystick-handling had the ball bouncing between theLion's goalie and Harvard sticks. But the Lion'sluck won out this time, and freshman midfielderWhitney Crimson bounced a beautiful shot into thecage to tie the game once again.

Midway through the second stanza, the Crimsonscored two straight goals to push the lead to 5-3.

Parker moved the ball single-handedly up theentire field to score with a breath-taking shot.

Three minutes later, Asano moved inside the12-meter circle, faking out the Columbia defenseand staying low to the ground to put one past thefearsome Kline. This time it was Columbia whocalled time out. But it didn't help.

Parker netted her second goal of the day,blazing by the competition with some stunningspeed.

"Our response to them playing well was tryingto do it individually," Brown said.

But the Crimson's individual steam quickly ranout, and Columbia came close to stealing the winin the end.

A minute after Harvard's goal, Crimson's speedcombined with the footwork of freshman KristinSantoro to earn another goal for the Lions,closing the gap to 6-4.

Taking advantage of the Crimson's lapses inintensity and concentration, Columbia scored on afree position less than a minute later.

The final seven minutes saw picture-perfectsaves from both goalies but no change in thescore.

With a minute to go the Crimson killed theclock playing catch. Harvard could have gone for afew last shots but decided not to push its luck.

"Overall, it was competitive game," Kline said."The game could have gone either way and there'slot of frustration when you're on the losing side.If there had been a little more time on the clock,we could have won it."

The Crimson plays its final two games of theseason on the road this week against UNH andCornell.CrimsonDaniela JodorkovskyASA-YES!CLAUDIA ASANO scored twogoals in a 6-5 win over Columbia.

"We came out a little cocky and it didn't helpus," Kutner said. "It was really frustrating. We'dscore and do some good things, but we couldn'tkeep it going."

The Crimson jumped on the scoreboard early withAsano scoring on a free position less than aminute into the game.

Once on the board, Harvard never fell behind,but by no means did the Crimson dominate.

At the 25:00 mark, Columbia freshman TeresaMulaikal snagged a fast high pass and dished itoff to sophomore Caroline Samponaro, who scoredthe Lions' first goal.

Over the next few minutes, Harvard had severalopportunities to score, but nothing materializedfor the Crimson.

Finally Kutner took things into her own hands.Dodging the Columbia sticks, Kutner brought theball all the way down the field and found Dahmen,who netted the Crimson's second goal.

For the next ten minutes, things continued togo back and forth. No player could find the backof the cage because of some solid goalkeeping onboth sides.

Sophomore goalie Keltie Donelan demonstratedconsistency for the Crimson once again, recordingher fifth win of the season. Donelan played theentire sixty minutes and tallied six saves, not tomention silencing a few seemingly-unstoppableColumbia plays in the second half.

But the Lions' goalie put up a formidable wallof her own. Freshman goalie Gina Kline played anincredible game for Columbia, stopping 16 shots.

"A few players put in some fast shots and somewell-placed shots," Kline said. "But for the mostpart, I think we were pretty evenly matched."

Kline's aggression shut out the Crimsonattackers for the remainder of the half, butColumbia found the back of the net one last time.

With just under 5:00 left in the first half,sophomore Lily Cope launched a long pass thatfound the stick of sophomore Devin Fitzpatrick.With no Harvard defender in her path, Fitzpatrickfired one by Donelan. The rest of the Crimsonplayers were left watching from the other side ofthe field.

Calling a time out, the Crimson players triedto get their heads back in the game, but controlcontinued to bounce back and forth amidst a sea ofyellow flags. The scoreboard remained unchanged asgoalies on both ends put a stop to shots on freepositions.

The half ended with the teams deadlocked, 2-2.Unfortunately, the play didn't get much prettierin the second half.

"We didn't play the whole game as a team,"junior tri-captain Becca Brown said. "We had someinconsistency with our intensity. For a fewminutes we'd be playing hard and working together,but then we'd lose it and Columbia would score."

The half began with a series of dropped passesand scrambling sticks, with bodies and balls alikefalling to the ground.

Finally, Harvard freshman Heather Husseysnagged a pass and managed to hold onto it longenough to score. The Crimson took back the lead at3-2.

For the next four minutes, sloppystick-handling had the ball bouncing between theLion's goalie and Harvard sticks. But the Lion'sluck won out this time, and freshman midfielderWhitney Crimson bounced a beautiful shot into thecage to tie the game once again.

Midway through the second stanza, the Crimsonscored two straight goals to push the lead to 5-3.

Parker moved the ball single-handedly up theentire field to score with a breath-taking shot.

Three minutes later, Asano moved inside the12-meter circle, faking out the Columbia defenseand staying low to the ground to put one past thefearsome Kline. This time it was Columbia whocalled time out. But it didn't help.

Parker netted her second goal of the day,blazing by the competition with some stunningspeed.

"Our response to them playing well was tryingto do it individually," Brown said.

But the Crimson's individual steam quickly ranout, and Columbia came close to stealing the winin the end.

A minute after Harvard's goal, Crimson's speedcombined with the footwork of freshman KristinSantoro to earn another goal for the Lions,closing the gap to 6-4.

Taking advantage of the Crimson's lapses inintensity and concentration, Columbia scored on afree position less than a minute later.

The final seven minutes saw picture-perfectsaves from both goalies but no change in thescore.

With a minute to go the Crimson killed theclock playing catch. Harvard could have gone for afew last shots but decided not to push its luck.

"Overall, it was competitive game," Kline said."The game could have gone either way and there'slot of frustration when you're on the losing side.If there had been a little more time on the clock,we could have won it."

The Crimson plays its final two games of theseason on the road this week against UNH andCornell.CrimsonDaniela JodorkovskyASA-YES!CLAUDIA ASANO scored twogoals in a 6-5 win over Columbia.