No. 22 Women’s Lacrosse Beats Holy Cross 12-7

After a grueling road trip to play the No. 11 Princeton Tigers this past weekend, the No. 22 Harvard Crimson (4-2, 0-1 Ivy) drove to Holy Cross for a weeknight contest against its in-state rival. Although it was a tight game through the first half, Harvard’s fourth-quarter success spurred the team to a dominant 12-7 rebound win.

Tri-captain Charley Meier set the tone early for the Crimson as she tallied the first goal of the evening. Harvard's defense followed Meier’s lead, standing firm in front of the Crusader’s quick passes.

As the shot clock dwindled to less than 20 seconds, Holy Cross flung the ball into the eight meter, hoping to connect with a cutter. However, the defense intercepted the ball, setting up freshman Tori Blaser for a ground ball pickup. Blaser hustled down the field toward the offensive zone. The Crimson was off to a successful start, both offensively and defensively.

A few unforced turnovers in the offensive zone threatened to ebb at Harvard’s early momentum. After the Crimson was called for a card due to offsides, Holy Cross’s Ella Kittredge capitalized on the woman-up advantage, tying the score at 1-1.

After Harvard’s midfielders failed to secure the following draw control, senior goalie Lizzie Francioli came up with a stellar save to keep the game tied. The Crimson’s defense, which generated more than 18 turnovers during the contest, prevented Holy Cross from obtaining a clean shooting opportunity for the majority of the quarter.

Sally Zinsner, the Crusaders’ senior attacker, was able to strike despite the defensive effort, giving Holy Cross a 2-1 lead.

Harvard responded quickly, as Charlotte Hodgson snatched a self-draw control and pushed the ball upfield. Tri-captain Caroline Mullahy dished the ball to her younger sister, Grace Mullahy, who caught the ball on the cross-crease cut and fired it home.

The scoreboard read 2-2. Caroline Mullahy, who currently sits on the Tewaaraton Watch List, notched an impressive four assists during the contest, looming closer to taking over Harvard’s record for career assists.

After Mullahy’s goal, there was another unforced turnover in the Crimson’s offensive zone. Kittredge, capitalizing on the possession, tallied the equalizer.

On the following draw, Hodgson suffered an injury to her ankle and was ushered off the field by the athletic trainers. Hodgson, the Crimson’s best draw specialist, is a critical player, and her injury undoubtedly worried the many Harvard fans who made the trip to Worcester.

Overcoming the loss of Hodgson, sophomore attacker Callie Batchelder scored, setting up the Crimson with a 3-2 lead as the clock signaled the end of the quarter.

Harvard started the second quarter with a woman-down disadvantage, after getting carded in the final seconds of the first quarter of play. Kittredge, relishing the open space, notched her second of the night, locking the game in a 3-3 tie.

The Crimson lost the next draw, sorely missing Hodgson in the circle. Despite the struggle for possession in the midfield, the defense held firm, forcing Holy Cross to burn entirely through the shot clock for the second time of the contest.

After blanking the Crusaders, senior defender Anna Andrews sprinted the ball to her offense, completing a beautiful clear. Batchelder then rattled the home team’s defense with a highlight-reel-worthy behind-the-back goal.

To the relief of all Crimson fans, Hodgson stepped back into the circle to take the draw. Earning possession of the ball, Hodgson pushed the fast break towards the net, where Caroline Mullahy struck with another stellar behind-the-back goal, causing the Harvard bench to erupt in rowdy cheers.

Meier continued the Crimson’s scoring streak, extending the lead to three in a woman-up situation, as Zinsner was cited with a card for a check to the head.

While it looked like Harvard might continue its run, Holy Cross did not give up, recording two quick goals to bring the score to 6-5 before the halftime whistle blew.

In the third quarter, both teams were plagued with fouls. Early on, Grace Mullahy was called with a card for applying slight pressure on the offensive ride, giving the Crusaders the opportunity to tie the game on the player-up advantage. However, Francioli snatched a rebound that bounced off the post, supplying Harvard with possession of the ball and successfully killing off the card.

From a defensive standpoint, the Crimson improved drastically on its performance against Princeton. Throughout the season, the team has struggled in the face of offensive powerhouses, yet, Kittredge, who currently has 21 goals this season, was kept to only three during the game. Notably, she was marked by at least two defenders whenever she stepped into the eight-meter area.

Harvard then suffered adversity as its top scorer, Batchelder, got called for her second yellow card of the night. Without Batchelder in play for the remainder of the game, the Crimson had to look to other players to step up and convert points on the scoreboard.

Blaser, however, rapidly proved her scoring capabilities as she notched a woman-down goal and gave Harvard a two-point lead.

Holy Cross closed the deficit quickly, largely due to its dominance on the draw. In fact, throughout the contest, the Crimson only won five of the 16 draws.

Luckily for Harvard, the rigorous defensive pressure was too much for the Crusaders to stand. Earning the ball back on another turnover, Caroline Mullahy was able to feed Meier, who made a cut toward the net. Catching Mullahy’s feed, Meier flung the ball past Holy Cross’s goaltender, recording a hat trick.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Harvard boasted an 8-6 advantage. Although Holy Cross won the draw, the Crimson had another impeccable defensive performance, as it held the Crusaders until the buzzer rang to signal yet another shot clock violation.

In the offensive zone, Blaser drew the shooting space call, earning herself a free position shot. When the whistle blew, she fired the shot from the eight-meter line, tallying her second goal of the night. Minutes later, she did it again, sending the ball into the bottom left corner of the net and earning a hat trick.

Kittredge struck one more time, attempting to close the deficit, but sophomore Stella Shea and Hodgson each recorded goals of their own for the Crimson, locking the final score at 12-7.

After its success in earning the rebound-win against the Crusaders, Harvard’s sights will shift back to Ivy League play. The Crimson is set to continue its road trip in Hanover, N.H., where it will face off against Head Coach Devon Wills’s alma mater, the Dartmouth Big Green (4-2, 0-1 Ivy League).

– Staff Writer Isabel C. Smail can be reached at isabel.smail@thecrimson.com.