Happy Trails

The Scheduling Powers That Be were clearly on Harvard’s side. Mired in the midst of the longest losing streak in Crimson women’s lacrosse history, Harvard was presented with a ray of light at the end of its thirteen-game tunnel—the opportunity to play the season’s final contest against Brown, the Crimson’s closest neighbor in the Ivy League cellar.

If ever there were a chance for Harvard to snap its skid and end its season on a high note, this was it, and 13 losses in a row proved to be the lucky number that the Crimson (3-13, 1-6 Ivy) would need to secure a win. With a 13-9 triumph over the Bears (3-11, 1-6) at Stevenson Field, the team earned its first victory in almost two months.

The win came from the youngest of sources—twelve of Harvard’s 13 goals were scored by its freshman class, led by attack Tara Schoen’s six tallies.

“It just gives me so much hope about this program,” Curtis said. “Our class is just such a good class, and it was just a great way to end the season.”

The win not only let Harvard avoid its first Ivy winless season, but also improve its position in the standings. The Crimson victory and Brown loss left the two teams tied for last place in the Ivies, ensuring that Harvard would not be alone at the bottom.

“Knowing that Brown was definitely one of the lower teams going into the game was definitely reassuring to us,” said freshmen midfielder Natalie Curtis.

The key to the Crimson victory was a twenty-minute stretch of the first half during which the Harvard offense scored seven consecutive times, holding a 7-1 lead by the time the dust had settled.

“We were definitely much more confident and poised,” said Curtis, who led the early charge with four rapid-fire goals. “We recognized the fact that Brown’s defense wasn’t really anything to write home about, and so we capitalized on that.”

The first-half outburst was just what the Crimson needed to erase the doubts built by a losing season and to gain the confidence it would need to survive a second-half Bears comeback attempt.

Harvard was outscored 6-4 in the second half, but with a solid lead left over from the first half, it was able to withstand the attack.

Not to be overlooked in the early scoring frenzy, the Crimson defense was also at its best for much of the game, allowing the Bears just eleven shots and three goals in the first period and forcing a whopping 26 turnovers in the second-half.

With the overpowering Harvard defense preventing Brown from scoring more than two unanswered goals at any point in the game, the Bears were never able to build up the momentum necessary to erase the Crimson’s first half assault.

The Harvard attack also played an important role in halting the Bears’ comeback attempts, keeping the score out of reach with timely offense.

After Brown scored two goals of its own to narrow the gap following Harvard’s 7-0 run, Schoen reclaimed the momentum for the Crimson, scoring twice in just twelve seconds as the first half wound to a close.

“We definitely worked on getting a lot more draw controls than the other team,” Schoen said. “Once we got the ball, we were able to get the ball down quickly on the fast break and score quick goals.”

In addition to Schoen’s and Curtis’ prolific offensive output, Simmons had two unassisted goals and assisted on two more.

“I think this game, for our team, was a complete 180,” Schoen said. “It gave us so much for us too look forward to next season, I know that I can’t wait to start the next season knowing that we have a great young class and lots of new recruits.”

Rather than end the season with the bitter taste of a fourteen-game slide, the Crimson derived a measure of dignity and a sense of hope for the year ahead from the frosh-powered victory.