Laxwomen Vanquish Vermont

The Harvard women's lacrosse team did it again, Saturday, beating Vermont 12-3 to up its record to 3-1.

The laxwomen fired an incredible 41 shots at the Vermont netminder, who was one of the best goalies Harvard has faced all year. And to Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder's pleasure, eight different players found the mark in the thrashing at Burlington, Vermont.

Junior attacker Kelly McBride, the team's leading scorer for the past two seasons, led the Crimson scoring barrage with two goals and two assists. Sophomores Kate Felsen and Leelee Groome had two goals and one assist each, while Cindi Ersek added two goals of her own.

The amazing story, though, was the defense. Back line members Alyce Wright, Lesie Bailliere and Co-Captain Genie Simmons added a goal apiece to fine defensive efforts. It was Simmons' first goal in her four years at Harvard.

Also outstanding for the five-time defending Ivy champions were senior Co-Captain Blair Wardenburg in the midfield and sophomore Ersek.

"Blair had a good overall game in the midfield, and Cindi did a lot of damage," Kleinfelder said. "[Ersek] contributed all over the field."

"We played our best game of the year by far," Felsen said.

Kleinfelder said that this year's team sports, "the most balanced attack we've seen in the last seven years."

The nation's 10th-ranked team can still improve according to Kleinfelder, "I think we can get more out of Bambi Taylor, if she breaks loose, it can tip the scales for us."

Harvard can definitely use her help next week when it meets traditional rival Massachusetts and fourth-ranked Maryland. But Felsen isn't looking too far into the future: "We must take it one game at a time before we can make the NCAAs."