Women's Lacrosse Eliminated From Ivy Tournament With Double Overtime Loss

They say that history repeats itself. In the case of the Harvard women’s lacrosse team, it seems to be true.

The Crimson entered its first-round Ivy League Tournament game against No. 9/12 Penn hoping to prove the saying wrong, with history—an 18-game losing streak against the Quakers and three consecutive first-round exits from the tournament – not on its side.

It took two overtimes to determine the result, but Harvard (9-7, 4-2 Ivy) could not stop the trend of history as it fell to the Quakers (13-3, 6-1) 6-5, in Philadelphia, Pa. on Friday night. The defeat marked the second time this season that Penn has topped the Crimson by one point.

The loss cuts Harvard’s season short and sees Harvard bow out in the first round of the conference tournament for the fourth time in its last four appearances.

Despite the final result, the Crimson outplayed its opponent for much of the game.

“I think we played incredibly well, and it showed that we can play with nationally-ranked teams and can beat them,” sophomore midfielder Nekele McCall said.

Facing the formidable Quakers offense, which is ranked first in the Ancient Eight in points per game and shot percentage, the Harvard back line stepped up, limiting Penn to its lowest single-game goals total of the season.

The Crimson defensive unit also managed to shut down the Quakers’ three most productive offensive players.

Penn senior attacker Nina Corcoran, ranked number one in the nation in assists per game, and the pair of sophomore midfielder Alex Condon and senior attacker Iris Williamson have accounted for over half of the Quakers’ points this season between them, but they were held to a point each on Friday.

Much of the Harvard’s defensive success stemmed from the solid play of goalie Kelly Weis. The co-captain turned away 10 shots on the night, including six saves against Penn’s prolific attacking trio.

With the Quakers’ offensive standouts out of commission, the Crimson was able to match Penn on attack.

After 15 scoreless minutes, the Quakers drew first blood, but Harvard equalized just 45 seconds later on an unassisted strike from sophomore attacker Eliza Guild.

Penn regained a one goal lead four minutes later, only for junior midfielder Megan Hennessey to pull the Crimson level with her seventh goal of the season.

Then, with just under six minutes remaining in the first stanza, Harvard did something that it had done just twice before over the course of this season – the team took the lead against a nationally-ranked opponent.

With the score tied, co-captain and midfielder Audrey Todd found senior attacker Alexis Nicolia on an unmarked run towards the Penn goal. Nicolia fired a shot into the far side of the net to hand the Crimson its first advantage of the game.

Harvard was unable to enter halftime with the lead, though, as Condon finally found her scoring form in the closing moments of the first frame, slamming home a rebound with one second left on the clock after seeing her first effort turned away by Weis.

Unwilling to surrender the advantage for long, the Crimson came out firing after the break, and Todd picked up a pair of finishes to put her team ahead by two points by the halfway point of the second stanza.

However, two Harvard fouls helped to erase the team’s advantage, as Penn converted a free position shot after a Crimson penalty and then scored in a man-up position following a Harvard yellow card. The resulting tie would last until the end of regulation time, and the contest entered sudden-death overtime.

After a goalless first period of overtime, the momentum swang in the Quakers’ favor. With just under a minute and a half remaining in the second overtime, Penn sophomore attacker Caroline Cummings beat two Harvard defenders and finished off a curving run with a low shot past Weis to decide the victory for the Quakers.

Although the result ended Harvard’s season, the team is taking some solace in the competitiveness of the contest against a top-10 squad.

“It stings to lose like that, but we played a great game,” Weis said. “The coaches have been instilling grit in us for the entire season, and that really showed [in the game].”

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