BRIEF: Defense Leads Women's Lacrosse to Victory Over Brown

For the first time this season, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team (5-4, 3-1 Ivy) has strung together consecutive wins, pushing the team into a tie for third in the Ivy League. Behind hat tricks from freshman midfielder Julia Glynn and sophomore midfielder Megan Hennessey, the Crimson topped Brown (5-5, 0-4) Saturday by a score of 9-7, sending the Bears to their four-straight conference loss.

Brown held the shot advantage (17-15), but Harvard never trailed,  jumping out to a 5-2 halftime lead in the process. The Crimson offense was accurate on the day, as nine of its 13 shots on goal made their way past Bears' goaltender Kellie Roddy.

After two quiet games in which she did not even take a shot, Hennessey came out firing on Saturday, scoring Harvard’s first two goals without needing to be assisted. Her third and final goal of the day came with 3:58 remaining in the first half, with the assist coming from Glynn.

The Manhasset, N.Y., native matched her career high with five points against the Bears. She has notched at least three points in each of the past six contests.

Though the game narrative may have been dominated by the two midfielders, it was the Harvard defense that came up strong to hold off a late Brown charge. After cruising to a 7-3 lead with over 20 minutes to go in the contest, the Crimson conceded the next three goals to let the Bears pull within one. But Glynn scored her third and final goal of the day with 6:49 remaining, and junior midfielder Audrey Todd iced the game for the Crimson with 40 seconds remaining on a score of her own.

Despite scoring fewer goals in each of the past two games (nine) than in recent losses against Princeton and Stanford, the Crimson has come out on top thanks to its efforts on the defensive side of the ball. In her past two contests against Dartmouth and Penn, Harvard junior goaltender Kelly Weis had 10 and four saves, respectively.

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