W. Lacrosse Falls To Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--The end.

For the first time in eight years, the Harvard women's lacrosse team is not going to the NCAA Tournament. Or any tournament, for that matter.

That made yesterday's game against Brown at Stevenson Field the finish to the season and the collegiate careers of the team's three seniors--Genevieve Chelius, Megan Colligan and Sarah Winters. Brown  17 Harvard  14

But it would not be a happy ending. The Crimson came out lackluster in the first half, falling behind 5-0, and was never quite able to catch up to the Bears, losing 17-14. It was the first time Brown had beaten Harvard since 1978 and its third win ever over the Cantabrigians. Brown  17 Harvard  14

The loss drops Harvard's record to 8-5 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League, the first time in over a decade that the Crimson has had a losing league record.

It was not as much of an upset as it was a disappointment. Last weekend, Harvard demolished two teams--Vermont and UMass--by a combined score of 37-8. The team wanted to go out in style.

The Crimson also knew that the Bears were much-improved over some of the terrible teams they have put out in the past. No one suggested that it would be a walk in the park.

"They were a little quicker than I thought they would be," Winters said. "They're a young team."

It was not supposed to be the last game of the season--originally scheduled for April 19, rains forced the meeting to be moved.

That didn't seem to throw too large of a wrench in Harvard's plan to send Chelius, Colligan and Winters out with a bang, for a win over Brown is as predictable as the sun rising in the morning.

Maybe not. The Crimson began the game knowing that it would win instead of ensuring it would. The defense collapsed. Attackers didn't make the right cuts. Shots were off. Brown went out to a 5-0 lead.

"In the first half--yeah, that's for sure," Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder said when asked if her team was listless yesterday.

During this time, it really didn't look like a lacrosse game. It looked like target practice, and Bear Alli Schettini was holding the gun. The freshman tallied two consecutive goals--Brown's second and third of the day--at the 4:48 and 8:02 marks, respectively.

Kleinfelder then called a time out, but it didn't help much. After Brown's Roslyn Clarke netted a high shot past Harvard sophomore goalie Kate Schutt on a free possession, Schettini was at it again.

She stole a pass from Colligan that sailed over junior Maria Hennessey's head, ran down the field past the defense and scored.

That was the story of the day for Harvard. A bad pass followed by a bad defensive play leading to a goal. It was not pretty.

"Brown's a nice team," Kleinfelder said, "but we didn't ask them to show too much. We gave them space and too many easy goals."

Then, when it looked as if Harvard was falling off the cliff, the Crimson finally scored a goal. Junior Carrie Shumway picked up a loose ball and deposited it behind Brown goalie Nancy Kendall for the point.

But even that had a dark lining. The loose ball came from a missed shot from Winters--which she should have put in. The goal was off a lucky bounce, at a time when the Crimson needed to score like there was no tomorrow. Because there wasn't.

"We weren't shooting all that well," Winters said. "I hit the goalie [a lot] in the head."

Passive saves, in a way.

Even with a sputtering offense, though, Harvard didn't stop getting the ball in the net. Colligan tallied on a free position after being fouled--something that Brown did with reckless abandon--and Winters scored on a fast break.

Those aren't how they're drawn up. But Harvard wasn't complaining, and it was now within two goals of Brown.

But only momentarily. The Bruins netted two in a row--less than a minute apart. And for the rest of the half, the two teams would trade goal for goal, while Harvard still searched for its potential.

At halftime, Brown led 10-6. All that Kleinfelder could do was give a pep talk and hope that it would work.

It did. Winters and junior Erin Cleary tallied at the 13- and 37-second marks, respectively. The Crimson was now only down 10-8, and visions of great comebacks began dancing through the Harvard players' heads.

Brown scored responded with a goal at 1:48 in the half. Winters--who came alive at the right moment--scored two in a row after that to pull Harvard within one.

Slowly but surely, the Crimson's dream was being realized. Junior Megan Hall tied the match at 12 with a great shot to the bottom right of Kendall, which would be the last shot she would see all day.

Five minutes later, at the 21:31 mark, sophomore Mary Eileen Duffy answered yet another goal on a sort of "hand of God" shot--a pass from Winters bounced in and out and into Duffy's stick as she shot the ball.

However, it was not a sign from above that Harvard would win. The Crimson would only net one more goal on the day, and that would come after Brown had built up a practicallyindestructible 16-13 lead.

In the time between its scores, Harvard was unable to hold on to the ball and equally unable to get it from Brown. That forced the Crimson defense to press harder and harder, which allowed the Bears to score twice in an empty shooting area.

Brown's 17th and last goal was scored at the 29:59 mark, right as the horn was sounding.

"A fitting way to end it," a Harvard player grumbled.

Commencement in May.

BROWN, 17-14 at Stevenson Field

Brown  10  7  -  17

Harvard  6  8  -  14

G: Brown--Whitaker(3), Schettini(4), Clarke(2), Purdy (1) Pennacchia (1), Zuckerman (1), Koch (2), Miller (2), Lake (1); Harvard--Shumway (1), Colligan (3), Winters (5), Hall (2), Cleary (2), Duffy (1). A: Brown--Miller (3), Koch (1), Whitaker (1); Harvard--Colligan (3), Winters (1), Hennessey (1). S: BU--None; Harvard--None