W. Lacrosse Loses Early Lead, Falls to Dartmouth 15-9

Warning. Proceed with caution.

The following is not intended for the faint of heart.

Hosting No. 9 Dartmouth yesterday, the unranked Harvard women's lacrosse team was poised for an upset. After Dartmouth overcame a three-goal deficit in the course of a 9-1 run to win 15-9, the only people upset were on the Harvard sidelines.

With the Crimson (4-5, 2-3 Ivy) leading 7-4 late in the first half, Dartmouth senior Jacque Weitzel became Harvard's worst nightmare.

Weitzel scored four straight goals in a span of seven minutes to give the Big Green (10-1, 6-0 Ivy) an 8-7 lead.

Worst of all for the Crimson, she wasn't done yet.

After both teams exchanged goals to make it 9-8 in favor of the Big Green, Weitzel set up fellow senior Kate Graw to put Dartmouth up by two before scoring five goals of her own to single-handedly finish off the Crimson.

Weitzel finished with nine goals, including seven of her teams' nine second half scores, and Graw tallied four as the senior duo combined to score as many goals in a single game as any Harvard attacker has scored all season.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Harvard, who played better than it had all season in the first half.

After Dartmouth opened the scoring with a pair of goals just over a minute apart, Crimson co-captain Alli Harper and freshman Katie Shaughnessy tallied to square the game, 2-2.

Then with Dartmouth once again leading, 4-3, sophomore Lizzy Frisbie scored on a penalty shot to start the Crimson comeback.

Co-captain Jeanne Ficociello set up the next goal with a steal, and junior Megan Austin finished the play off a perfect feed from fellow junior Lauren Corkery.

Two minutes later, Harper battled away from the net with Dartmouth sophomore goalie Sarah Hughes after Hughes came to grab a loose ball.

Harper won the fight for the ground ball, circled behind the net, and dished to sophomore Heather Gotha, who one-timed it past Hughes.

Just 25 seconds later, Corkery scored to put the Crimson ahead, 7-4, after Harper and freshman Katie Shaughnessy stripped the ball from a Dartmouth defender.

Corkery's goal with 4:33 remaining in the first was Harvard's fourth strike in less than four minutes.

The Crimson's 7-2 scoring run was backed by strong defense and an excellent number of second chance opportunities in the offensive end.

Throughout most of the first half, the Crimson attack controlled the tempo of the game, holding the ball for long periods of time in the Dartmouth end and preventing the Big Green attack from getting into a rhythm.

Ficociello and Shaughnessy were impressive defensively, converting a number of steals and defensive stops into scoring opportunities at the other end.

Behind them in goal, freshman Nora Guyer made a number of spectacular stops at key times in the first half to maintain the offensive momentum.

Guyer recorded 14 saves in the game compared to only six for her counterpart Hughes.

Although Hughes was forced to make only six stops, the numbers do not reveal the dominance of the Crimson attack.

Throughout the game, Harvard had excellent opportunities to score but could not seem to find the corner, missing just wide on numerous occasions.

In the first half, Harvard was able to fight for rebounds and maintain possession, despite the teams' shooting troubles.

After halftime, however, the Harvard attack was not as fortunate, as the Big Green defense had more success at clearing ground balls and forcing Crimson turnovers.

Maintaining focus for the entire 60 minutes has been the biggest problem for Harvard all season.

In the first 30 minutes of its games this season, the Crimson has been as good as any team in the country.

Harvard led 7-6 going into halftime yesterday and was clearly the best team in the opening half.

Facing former No. 10 Yale earlier this year, the story was similar. Harvard led the Bulldogs 4-3 at halftime but could not hold on for the win.

The same was true in games against No. 2 Princeton and No. 10 BU, where the Crimson trailed by only two at halftime, but fell apart in the second half.

The Crimson travel to Notre Dame this weekend where they face both the Fighting Irish and ivy rival Columbia.