W. Lacrosse Succumbs to Bulldogs' Attack, 14-7

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Harvard women's lacrosse team's 14-7 loss to Yale yesterday at the Yale Bowl was closer than the score indicates. But not by much.

It was true that the Elis did not pull away from the Crimson until the end of the game, so one could not call it a blowout. Nevertheless, Yale (6-0, 1-0 Ivy) consistently kept Harvard (1-3, 0-3 Ivy) at an arm's distance, holding the momentum and the initiative for the full 60 minutes.

"I thought that we could have had a couple of goals that would have tightened the screws and put the pressure on them a little bit more," Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "Then they would have had to be coming from a down position and it would have been interesting to see how they reacted to that."

Harvard's best chance to do that came midway through the second half, when senior Erin Cleary had a free-position shot with Harvard down 7-5. Yale goalie Alison Cole--only a freshman--made the save, and only 36 seconds later Bulldog Katherine Koegler sidearmed a shot past senior Harvard goaltender Shana Barghouti.

That goal began a 7-2 Yale run to close out the game.

That was the story of the day--Harvard could not turn the tide. Especially on the transition from defense to offense, the Crimson turned the ball over far, far too much, with many long passes becoming essentially up for grabs.

"The biggest problem were poor decisions, inconsistent throwing and catching and the lack of immediacy [on offense]," co-captain Megan Hall said. "We feel like we can take the ball down, throw it around and all of a sudden there's a turnover."

And when Harvard did get the ball on offense, life still wasn't a beach. The Crimson rarely ran its plays well, as often one or two players would try to do things alone and would be rewarded with a triple-team and a turnover.

"Our shot selection was not strong," Kleinfelder said. "There's just not enough [different] people scoring on our offense. We can't be a one-player offense--it's not going to work."

These troubles negated a strong defensive effort on the part of Harvard and especially Barghouti. The netminder tallied an amazing 20 saves on the day, giving her a save percentage of 70, which was the total that led the Ivy League last year.

That was how Harvard stayed in the game. The Elis roared out to a 5-1 lead after 20 minutes of play, but then the Crimson defense shut its opponent down, allowing one goal over the next 15 minutes, by which time the lead was only two.

But it couldn't stem the tide forever. In the final 10 minutes of the game, the Harvard defenders became more and more porous as the lead slipped away.

"I think we were sloppy even in man-to-man," Hall said. "It wasn't like they were doing anything complicated--we weren't on their sticks. Shana was getting shelled."

Harvard next takes on No. 2 Loyola on Saturday in Baltimore, and the next weekend Harvard plays No. 1 Maryland at Ohiri. Harvard  7 Yale  14

YALE, 14-7 at The Yale Bowl, New Haven Harvard  3  4  --  7 Yale  6  8  --  14

G: Harvard--Cleary (4), Schoyer, Shumway, Hall; Yale--DeLaCruz (3), Koegler (2), Langhoff (2), Hagmann (2), Groom, Cox, Belliveau, Murray, Scott.

A: Harvard--Hall, Schoyer; Yale--Koegler.

S: Harvard--Barghouti 20; Yale--Cole 21.

YALE, 14-7 at The Yale Bowl, New Haven Harvard  3  4  --  7 Yale  6  8  --  14

G: Harvard--Cleary (4), Schoyer, Shumway, Hall; Yale--DeLaCruz (3), Koegler (2), Langhoff (2), Hagmann (2), Groom, Cox, Belliveau, Murray, Scott.

A: Harvard--Hall, Schoyer; Yale--Koegler.

S: Harvard--Barghouti 20; Yale--Cole 21.

G: Harvard--Cleary (4), Schoyer, Shumway, Hall; Yale--DeLaCruz (3), Koegler (2), Langhoff (2), Hagmann (2), Groom, Cox, Belliveau, Murray, Scott.

A: Harvard--Hall, Schoyer; Yale--Koegler.

S: Harvard--Barghouti 20; Yale--Cole 21.