Tie Shatters Laxwomen's Title Hopes; Princeton and Yale Share Ivy Crown

The women's lacrosse team will have to wait another year to win an Ivy League championship. The laxwomen yesterday lost a chance to tie for the league championship when Julie Dohan whipped in a short shot to the left corner of the net to give Yale a 4-4 tie with Harvard.

The tie drops Harvard to third place in the league and gives the championship jointly to Yale and Princeton.

Yale opened up the game playing like champions. Displaying an awesome fast break, the Elis completely dominated the early minutes of the match. Eight minutes into the game, Dohan put Yale one up with her first goal of the game. Seconds later, Yale star Tracy Ball chipped in another tally to make the score 2-0.

When Yale missed an open goal shot late in the first half, it looked like the tide might begin to turn. But Harvard fired numerous shots at the goal which failed to hit their mark, and the Crimson ended the half down by two.

The laxwomen opened up the second half with inspired play and scored three quick unanswered goals. Francesca Den Hartog chalked up two goals, while Jennifer White chipped in another to give Harvard the lead.

Neck and Neck

Yale bounced back late in the game. Finally regaining their poise, the Elis traded goals with Harvard. White's second marker was not enough to give the Crimson the crown, however, because with 34 seconds to go, Dohan took a pass from Ball and put it in the net, tying the score.

Aside from the offensive play of Den Hartog and White, the only bright spot for Harvard was the goaltending of rookie Nancy Boutillier, who notched nine saves.

Harvard will try to make up for the tie on Saturday when it plays in the New England regional championships at Dartmouth. The laxwomen were ranked second in New England before the Yale match and should do very well in the championships. As Boutillier commented, "We are going to peak this weekend."