BRIEF: Field Hockey Defense Falters Against Maine

After the previous week’s 5-2 win at home over Bryant, the Harvard field hockey team could not keep up the momentum, falling to Maine by a 7-1 score.

The Crimson (1-2) found itself in a tight defensive contest against the Black Bears (5-1) in the first half, without any scoring occurring before the 19th minute. Even so, Maine set the pace of the game from the beginning, taking two shots on goal in the first four-plus minutes.

The Black Bears broke through against the Harvard defense at the 19:09 mark a few seconds after a penalty corner to notch the first point of the game. Another Maine goal a little over a minute later widened the lead to 2-0, but that would end the scoring before the intermission.

But the Black Bears would come out of the break operating on a higher gear, as the group tallied four straight goals in a 16-minute time frame to break the contest open. By the time captain Elizabeth Jacobson staved off a shutout, there was less than 90 seconds left in the game for Harvard to make up the rest of the deficit.

An added exclamation point for Maine was an unassisted goal from freshman back Delaney Baxendale, her first of the season, as time expired.

—Staff writer Caleb Y. Lee can be reached at caleb.lee@thecrimson.com.