Women´s Lacrosse Dismantles Yale, Qualifies for Ivy Tournament

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team found itself in a position that was both exciting and daunting this weekend. Facing off against its archrival, the Crimson had the chance to decide its own fate—come away with a win and the team would qualify for the Ivy League tournament, lose and the season would be over.

In the end, Harvard made the decision with conviction. The Crimson (9-6, 4-3 Ivy) topped perennial rival Yale (5-10, 2-5) with an ease that belied the gravity of the situation, brushing aside the Bulldogs, 13-4, on Saturday in New Haven, Conn. The victory saw Harvard finish fourth in the conference standings to make it to the Ancient Eight tournament for the third season in a row and the fifth time in six years.

“Today was a great day all around,” junior midfielder Megan Hennessey said. “It was a good team win. We are really excited to be going back to the Ivy tournament, as it is always our goal.”

The victory resulted from a team-wide effort from the Crimson, with Harvard shining both defensively and on attack.

“We executed the game plan well,” said co-captain and starting goalie Kelly Weis. “We hunkered down on defense and didn't allow them to drive to cage easily, and the offense moved the ball well and was able to finish their shots.”

The Crimson senior netminder anchored the team at the back, turning away 11 of Yale’s 15 attempts on goal.

Led by Weis, the Crimson back line managed to shut down the key to the Bulldogs’ offense, junior attacker Tess McEvoy, who tallied just two points on the day. Only six teams have limited McEvoy to two points or fewer this season, and Harvard is one of two squads on that list that is not nationally ranked.

With Yale’s offense limited, the Crimson attack was able to run away with the game. Harvard tallied 31 shots, compared to the Bulldogs’ 16, and five Crimson players collected two points or more, including hat tricks from Hennessey and junior attacker Maeve McMahon.

Junior attacker Marisa Romeo also chipped in two scores and four assists to continue her run of prolific scoring form.

“[Romeo was] fantastic,” Harvard coach Lisa Miller said. “She was patient, ran the offense, found open cutters, re-defended well, and took the one-on-one when it was there.”

On the back of a standout performance from its attackers, Harvard quickly marched away to a decisive lead that it would never surrender.

Senior attacker Alexis Nicolia opened the scoring six minutes after the opening whistle, and the Crimson was ahead by seven points before the Bulldogs found the back of the net for the first time.

Prior to Yale’s first score, Nicolia had put away a second goal, while Hennessey had picked up two of her own and McMahon had already completed her hat trick.

Bulldogs’ sophomore midfielder Katie Smith finally snapped the string of unanswered Harvard points from a free position opportunity with 12 seconds remaining in the first half before the whistle blew to send the Crimson into the intermission ahead, 7-1.

The second period followed a very similar pattern, as Harvard quickly added to its advantage before Yale was able to strike back.

Hennessey scored for the third time just over 30 seconds after the restart to spark a run of five unanswered goals for the Crimson that would see sophomore attacker Caroline Ashford and Romeo each pick up a brace of finishes. Hennessey concluded Harvard’s streak and her scoring for the night with a fourth goal that stretched the Crimson’s margin to 12.

Yale would recover slightly once again at the end of the stanza, and the Bulldogs managed to end their second-period drought in the final 10 minutes of the contest with a strike from sophomore attacker Kiwi Comizio and two finishes from McEvoy.

The Harvard offense had already put the result out of reach, though, and the final whistle blew just after McEvoy’s second goal to quash the Bulldogs’ comeback bid and keep Harvard playing for another week.

Concluding the regular season with such a decisive victory will provide the Crimson with some much-needed momentum as the team enters the league tournament, which will be held next weekend in Philadelphia.

“It feels good to have a big win going into the tournament,” Weis said. “Some games haven't gone our way the past few weeks, so it was great to get a solid win before heading down to Penn next weekend.”

—Staff writer Sam O. M. Christenfeld can be reached at schristenfeld@college.harvard.edu.