Harvard Downs Crosstown Rival

Victory is sweet—but retribution makes it even sweeter.

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team (8-4, 4-1 Ivy) snapped a six-game losing streak to Boston University (6-8, 2-2 America East) that dated back to 1994, beating its crosstown rival, 16-6, last night at Nickerson Field.

The Crimson came ready to attack from the beginning. After only 30 seconds of play, junior attacker Jess Halpern fired a shot at the Terriers’ goal, but the ball hit the post, and the score remained 0-0. Just over two and a half minutes later, sophomore midfielder Danielle Tetreault tallied the first goal of the game off a free-position shot. Tetreault came back around soon after to score yet again, making the score 2-0.

Harvard’s next two goals were a back-to-back effort. After Halpern recorded her first score of the game, sophomore attacker Jennifer VanderMeulen notched her first goal of the night only 15 seconds later. The two quick tallies put the Crimson ahead, 4-0.

A few minutes after that, VanderMeulen beat out two Boston University players for the ball in front of the Terriers’ goal. She dished to Tetreault, who charged to the cage and scored.

“I think that we came out very hard,” VanderMeulen said. “We were excited. [Boston University] is a hometown rival, and we wanted to establish some bragging rights.”

The Terriers finally responded to Harvard’s five-goal streak in the 16th minute. After her team won the draw control, junior attacker Hannah Frey slipped a goal past the Crimson goalie, pushing the score to 5-1. But Harvard was not about to let the Terriers make a comeback.

The game’s next goal came from Crimson junior co-captain Melanie Baskind. Coming off of a transition from a blocked shot by Harvard, Baskind received the ball inside the crease, maneuvered her way around multiple Boston University defenders, and shot the ball only a few feet from the goal. Baskind’s score made the game 6-1.

Halpern struck next. After getting the ball behind the goal, she looped around the side of the pole and rocketed a shot to the upper-right hand corner of the net.

Freshman attacker Chelsey Newman scored the next Crimson point in a similar fashion, tallying her eighth goal of the season and Harvard’s eighth goal of the contest.

The Terriers had the next chance to score after a free-position attempt was allotted to Boston University’s Frey, who was fouled going to goal. But the shot from Frey hit the post, and Harvard picked up the ground ball. On the same possession, Halpern scored her second goal of the game, making the score 9-1.

Right after Halpern’s tally, a won draw control and a speedy goal from the Terriers brought the home team within seven.

Boston University found itself in front of the Crimson goal a few minutes later after a forced turnover. The ball was bobbled in midair until Terriers senior midfielder Rachel Collins found a way to hit the ball into the goal, closing the score gap to six.

Harvard responded again. Tetreault passed the ball to VanderMeulen, who threaded the Boston University defense with a tricky underhanded shot. VanderMeulen’s goal made the score 10-3 as the two teams traveled to their respective benches for halftime.

“I think one thing that we wanted to focus on was not letting up because we tend to do that when we have leads,” VanderMeulen said. “So going into halftime, we didn’t want to relax. We needed to start the half like a new game and keep pounding.”

The Crimson did exactly what it set out to do at first. Less than three minutes into the second half, junior midfielder Tyler Petropulos pulled a spin move on a Terrier defender and scored.

Yet Boston University was unfazed and made one last push to cut into Harvard’s lead. After many fouls and back-and-forth play, the Terriers scored the next two goals in only two shots.

Boston University’s next shot came from freshman attacker Elizabeth Morse who ran down the middle and snapped one towards the goal, low and right. But junior goalie Kerry Clark came up with a save that kept the score 10-5.

Five minutes later the Terriers came up with another score, but their sixth goal ended up being their last score of the game.

“I’d say that a big thing on defense is that we were really able to stop their feeds, especially in the first half,” Clark said. “They’re a big feeding team, and we were able to stop their feeders from getting the ball.”

Besides keeping its opponent out of the net, the Crimson also finished the game on an offensive high note, scoring five straight to end the match.

“I think this game showed that when we play 60 minutes, we can take teams down,” VanderMeulen said. “I think that’s important going into our next two games and the Ivy tournament.”