W. Lax Drops First Two Ivy Games

The Harvard women's lacrosse team managed one win over spring break, but let Brown and Yale come back from early deficits to lose a pair of nailbiters in its first two games of the Ivy League season.

The Crimson (2-3, 0-2 Ivy) lost 10-9 to the Elis (7-1, 2-1) Saturday at Ohiri Field after taking a 5-3 lead into halftime.

"It was definitely a battle," said tri-captain Becca Brown. "Both teams were talented and it was just a tough second half. As Yale started to score at the end of the game, our strategy was to answer them with goals of our own, and there was just not enough time at the end. It's hard to lose close games, especially to Yale."

Tri-captain Claudia Asano scored two of her three goals in the first half. But Bulldog junior attacker Heather Bentley scored 12:45 into the second half and Yale burst out for three more goals in a span of three minutes before holding on to win the game.

"The first of those four goals gave Yale momentum and they rolled with it," Brown said. "There were a few questionable calls but it was back-and-forth after those goals. But it was a pretty fair match-up and, had a few plays worked out differently, I think Yale would be dealing with a tough loss instead of us right now."

Senior Vanessa Kerry paced the Elis with three goals and sophomores Clara Gilespie and Kate Flatley and freshman Amanda Walton scored two goals each.

Sophomore attacker Ali Harper and freshman midfielder Heather Gotha each added a pair of goals for Harvard. Sophomore goalkeeper Keltie Donelan made 14 saves.

Harvard cruised past St. Joseph's with a 9-3 victory last Tuesday in Philadelphia. That win came after the Ancient Eight opener against Brown a week ago Saturday, which the Crimson lost, 10-8.

As it would do against Yale, Harvard got off to a fast start and led the Bears 4-1 just 5:21 into the game thanks to goals from Gotha, freshman defender Erin Kutner and sophomore attacker Lauren Corkery. But Brown went on a 5-1 run of its own over the next 22:20 to lead 6-5 at halftime.

Two goals from junior Kim Weeks gave Harvard a short-lived 7-6 lead early in the second half, but the Bears bounced back on scores from Cristi Gigon--who netted four goals and an assist on the day--and teammates Jennifer McNamara and Lauren Klein to seal the win.

Harvard will take a break from Ivy action Wednesday afternoon when it travels to Boston University for a 3 p.m. game. With two close losses to open the conference schedule, the Crimson hopes to continue to be competitive and end up on the other side of a tight box score.

"Our team played well against Yale and, more importantly, we played together," Brown said. "It's always disappointing after a stinging loss like that but there were positives, and now we have to get ready for B.U."