Crimson Takes Down Defenseless Bulldogs with Ease

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team executed so well during its 19-3 dismantling of Yale on Saturday afternoon at Harvard Stadium that labeling the game film a highlight reel would be an understatement.

Two sophomores, midfielder Danielle Tetreault and attacker Jennifer VanderMeulen, led the offense with four goals each, while the Crimson (3-3, 2-1 Ivy) defense hounded the Bulldogs (1-7, 0-3), resulting in Harvard’s largest win in more than two seasons.

“I thought we played well from the beginning,” Crimson coach Lisa Miller said. “We played really well as a team with a lot of energy and a lot of excitement.”

Harvard drew first blood just a little over two minutes into the game when junior tri-captain Melanie Baskind scored the Crimson’s initial goal off a free-position shot. VanderMeulen and junior attacker Jess Halpern soon followed suit with a goal each, giving Harvard a promising start to its rivalry matchup.

Yale showed brief signs of life after the Crimson’s 3-0 lead grew to 7-1, with attackers Caroline Crow and Jen DeVito scoring once each to cut Harvard’s lead to four, 7-3.

But the Crimson’s defense held strong from there, shutting its opponent out for the final 39 minutes of play.

Harvard freshman attacker Jenn Leffew scored her first goal of the game to counter the Bulldogs’ fleeting surge. From there, the Crimson scored two more unanswered goals to close out the first half, with the latter coming right at the buzzer from junior tri-captain Tyler Petropulos.

Coming out of the break, Harvard showed no signs of letting up, with Tetreault scoring her third goal of the game less than a minute into the period. Meanwhile, the Crimson’s defense continued to hold strong.

“I’m really happy with the defense’s performance,” junior defender Ellen Gleason said. “The defense really operates as a unit. We kind of feed off of each other. The help defense, slides, and on-ball defense were all there.”

“I thought [the defense] played great,” Miller added. “We had to absorb an injury [to sophomore midfielder Micaela Cyr]. We had to figure out how to do that. I thought the team stepped up to fill in all the things that she was good at. I was really happy about how they came together.”

By swarming loose balls and with junior goalie Kerry Clark standing strong in net, Harvard’s defense was able to completely shut down Yale’s offense, keeping the visitors scoreless for the entire second half.

“Kerry’s been having a great year,” Tetreault said. “Last year, Yale came up and we had a tough loss to them. This year Kerry stepped up. She’s stepping up in the crease, getting those low angle shots. She’s doing great.”

Given the sheer amount of opportunities created by the defense for quick counterattacks, the Crimson was surprisingly patient on the offensive end, often settling down and spacing out around the Bulldog’s 12-meter fan to distribute the ball and wait for the best shot.

“We’re a young team, but we’re playing with more maturity this year,” Tetreault said. “And if we can keep playing and waiting for those smart shots, we’re going to put the ball away. We just have to wait and be patient.”

The win also gave freshman players an opportunity to showcase their talents.

“We had three freshman starting on defense,” Gleason said. “And a couple more came in today who just played stellar. They don’t play like freshmen either, which is huge, because it’s tough to just come in with no college experience.”

“I was really happy to see a lot of kids who haven’t been getting a lot of playing time in those really tight games come in and not miss a beat,” Miller added. “Hopefully, this is the way it’s supposed to be.”