Women's Lacrosse Stumbles at Dartmouth

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team suffered its second demoralizing loss in as many games yesterday, falling 15-3 to Ivy League leader No. 6 Dartmouth at Scully-Fahey Field.

With the victory, the Big Green (9-2, 6-0 Ivy) clinched at least a share of the league title with only No. 7 Princeton and Yale in a position to challenge for a portion of the crown.

Aware of the circumstances, Dartmouth bombarded the Crimson (2-10, 0-5) with shots from all over the field throughout the course of the game.

Launching 32 attempts at Harvard keepers junior Laura Mancini and freshman Kristin Demorest, the Big Green attack maintained a constant attack as Harvard’s overworked defense tried to keep up.

In its last two outings, Crimson defenders have faced nearly 50 shots and surrendered 27 goals.

It did not take long for Dartmouth to set the tone. Sophomore midfielder Sarah Sanborn found the back of Harvard’s net half a minute into the game.

Initially the Crimson hung tough, managing to stay within three as the first half entered its final five minutes.

But the Big Green continued to chip away at the Crimson defensive wall.

Eventually, it cracked.

“I think we just allowed them to get momentum,” freshman Bridget Driscoll said. “Their star player is Katieann Christian, and we were marking her man to man trying to take her out of the game. I think we sort of lost track of her and let her score a couple of goals at the end of the first half, [and] that really brought them back into the game.”

Four Dartmouth goals in the last five minutes of the first half put Harvard down 8-1 at the break—virtually the same situation the squad found itself in against Princeton on Saturday (down 9-1 at the half). The Crimson would lose to the Tigers 12-2.

Harvard proved unable to galvanize its offensive effort in the second half as the Big Green ran away with a blowout victory.

“Well, it was really disappointing because we came out at the beginning of the game playing right with them,” freshman Emma Millon said. “Our defense was doing a great job. They got a few fast breaks and they were able to finish their shots.”

With Dartmouth effectively utilizing its possession and dominating the scoreboard, Harvard was afforded few opportunities to apply pressure of its own, managing just 12 shots for the entire game.

“They were doing a good job pressuring our offense,” Driscoll said. “I think we were being a little timid and also we wanted to get good shots off because their goalie is pretty incredible. I think we may have been a little too selective in our shooting.”

The Big Green attempted 17 shots in the first half alone. Facing a seven-goal halftime deficit, the Crimson managed to get off just four shots in the entire second half.

“We weren’t intense in terms of going to goal,” Millon said. “We weren’t capitalizing on our opportunities. And we held the ball, but we didn’t finish our possession with a shot and Dartmouth was able to do that.”

Harvard did capitalize on the shots it took, converting half of its attempts in the second frame.

Sophomore Elaine Belitsos netted two goals and co-captain Katie Shaughnessy scored one, prolonging the senior’s five-game goal scoring streak.

Inability to generate shots is not a new problem for Harvard. It has plagued the squad all season long, often rearing its ugly head during Ancient Eight competition, in which the Crimson has been outscored 61-20. The Crimson has yet to score more than five goals in a game against an Ivy League squad.

Additionally complicating matters on offense, Harvard tied a season-high mark with 22 turnovers.

“A lot of it was our passes in transition,” Millon said. “They were getting interceptions and we weren’t able to capitalize on their mistakes.”

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team returns home for its final home game of the season, squaring off against Columbia this Saturday on Senior Day at Jordan Field.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.