Crimson Finishes Season With Win

The Ivy League season may have ended over a week ago, but the Harvard women’s lacrosse team still had business to take care of when it hosted Boston College Wednesday under the lights at Harvard Stadium.

The Crimson (8-7, 3-4 Ivy) concluded a roller coaster of a season on a high note, defeating the Eagles (12-6, 1-4 ACC) for the third straight season, 17-9, thanks to a balanced offensive attack that saw nine different players find the back of the net.

“They were a ranked opponent this year and a local opponent, so it’s always great to have a victory over them,” co-captain Sara Flood said. “We played for sixty minutes, which is a great feat for us. We’ve been trying to pull together a sixty-minute game for a while now so it was good to go out that way.”

Playing in her last game in a Crimson uniform, Flood finished her career with one of her strongest offensive outputs of the season, notching four points on two goals and two assists.

Senior goalkeeper Katherine Martino also had a memorable senior night, matching her season high of 12 saves and earning her seventh victory of the year.

“[Martino] told me ‘I am going to go out with a great game,’” Flood said. “I am so happy to see her go out that way.”

One of Martino’s biggest saves came at a crucial point for Harvard, preserving the home team’s momentum heading into halftime.

After the Crimson went on a 4-0 run with less than seven minutes remaining in the first period to take a commanding six-goal lead, Boston College went on the attack with just seconds to play and looked to be on the verge of halting Harvard’s run.

With a few ticks left on the clock, the Eagles’ Lauren Costello made her way to the Crimson goal and was tripped up with one second remaining, earning her a free position shot.

Costello fired at the bottom-left corner of the cage, but Martino got her stick in front in time, deflecting the ball away and preserving the six-goal lead heading into the break.

“[Martino] had a great game,” Harvard coach Lisa Miller said. “She was on angle; she wasn’t moving around a lot. She just tracked the ball well and made the saves. I thought she did a nice job.”

While Martino kept the Boston College offense at bay, the Crimson offense had far more success.

Despite being face-guarded and facing double-teams, Jennifer VanderMeulen­­—the Ivy League Rookie of the Year—found a way to score early and often, finishing with five scores to end the season with a total of 56 goals, making her the only freshman in the country with over 50 scores.

“Jenn came in and was ready to go and is a relentless attacker,” Miller said.

But VanderMeulen was not the only player to do damage.

Sophomore teammate Melanie Baskind matched VanderMeulen with five goals of her own, while Flood added two to go along with single scores from five other players.

“All those guys are tough to defend and in years to come you’re not going to be able to face guard or double Jenn early because the rest of them are really going to put the ball away and hurt you,” Miller said.

After Harvard fell behind early, Flood got the scoring started for the home team, cutting in front of the net and whipping a low ball past the Eagles’ goalkeeper to knot it at one.

VanderMeulen gave her team the lead less than two minutes later, receiving a pass from Baskind in front of the goal and finishing with authority.

Peyton Killeen answered for Boston College four minutes later to tie it at two, but the Crimson scored three-straight scores—two courtesy of Baskind—in just 86 seconds to take a commanding 5-2 lead.

Baskind got the run started after Martino stopped an Eagles’ shot and sent the ball the other way. Baskind finished in front of the cage for a quick coast-to-coast score.

After the home team followed with two quick scores, Boston College could not get the deficit back below three, as Harvard used a 4-0 to close out the half.

When it was all said and done, the Crimson finished with 17 scores, finishing the year with its third-highest output of the season.

“I wish I had a couple games left because I’d still like to be playing,” Miller said. “I’d grab back a few of the games earlier...But overall I am really pleased with the progress of the group.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.