Big Green Quiets Crimson Offense

Thirteen is one unlucky number.

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team found this out yesterday as No. 13 Dartmouth scored 13 goals on its home turf, beating the Crimson for the 13th year in a row. Despite a tough fight in the last three minutes of play, with Harvard scoring three goals, the Big Green (7-4, 4-1 Ivy) had a comfy seven-point lead to send the Crimson (4-9, 1-4 Ivy) home with a 13-6 loss.

“It was kind of the usual thing, simple turnovers, mistakes, not really capitalizing or staying structured throughout the game,” sophomore defenseman Sam McMahon said. “It was definitely an improvement from Saturday [‘s 17-5 loss] against Princeton.”

Dartmouth sophomore Greta Meyer scored the first tally of the game in the first five minutes. Harvard soon evened it up as freshman Katie Doherty won a draw control and passed the ball to junior tri-captain Sara Flood. Flood whipped it into the back of the net, scoring her 17th goal of the season.

That would be the only goal for the Crimson in the first half, as the Big Green outscored Harvard, 13-5, going into the break. Winning the next draw control, the Crimson gave up the first of three major turnovers that allowed Dartmouth to score its next two goals with 20 minutes on the clock.

“We came out flat,” freshman goalkeeper Kerry Clark said. “They came out really strong, so the first half we kind of dug ourselves into a hole and had to chip away at it.”

Attacking Clark with seven shots in the middle of the period, the Big Green never looked back, extending its lead to 6-1 as the final seconds counted down. Clark made four saves in her 33 minutes of play before being switched for junior Katherine Martino.

As Dartmouth scored three goals in the first seven minutes of the second half, the Crimson began to turn the heat on. With three saves from Martino, Harvard’s attack began to take more attempts at Big Green junior goalie Julie Wadland.

Crimson freshman Tyler Petropulos finally stopped Dartmouth’s streak with her 16th goal of the season, after taking a pass from Flood, to get Harvard going. But the Big Green continued to stomp on the Crimson’s defense with two back-to-back goals in the middle of the half to give Dartmouth an 11-2 lead.

“It really comes from the draw controls, and we had been struggling with that in the beginning of the game,” McMahon said. “Scoring goals definitely comes from whoever wins the draw controls, so if you can win the draw controls, you can win the goals.”

With 13 minutes left in the game, Harvard scored four of the next six goals. Off a feed from senior Kaitlin Martin, Doherty put the first of the Crimson’s four into the net. Unfazed, Dartmouth scored two more in under a minute, leaving Harvard with little hope.

Nine minutes later, after a stretch of scoreless play, the Crimson was more than frustrated. Picking up the tempo, sophomore Jess Halpern gave the ball to Martin, who sent a shot into the goal with three minutes left in the game.

Harvard’s streak continued less than a minute later when Petropulos picked up the draw and sent it to Halpern, who watched as her free position shot went into the net. Petropulos finished off the Crimson’s run with her second goal of the game off of a pass from Flood.

Despite the last-minute burst of energy, Harvard could not muster enough attack in the beginning of the game, allowing Dartmouth’s offense to outshoot the Crimson 25-14 overall and pick up more ground balls by a count of 23-12. Dartmouth’s defense also helped with the win, holding Harvard’s Halpern and Martin to one goal each.

“I think really we just didn’t have the ball that much,” Clark explained. “We had limited opportunities on offense, because they had the ball the majority of the time. It was a lot of defense, and that has been a theme throughout the season, because we play opponents who get the ball more than us.”

With the last two loses, the Crimson will try to reclaim its rhythm at next Saturday when it hosts Columbia in Senior Day at Harvard Stadium.