Harvard Wins Third Consecutive at Home

Last night at Jordan Field, the Harvard field hockey team played host to Northeastern.

The Crimson built up its biggest lead of the year, with four different players scoring goals, and survived a late Husky surge to win, 4-3.

“It’s a great win for us. We have a really big cross-town rivalry with Northeastern,” said co-captain and goaltender Kylie Stone. “This win puts us at .500 and that’s huge.”

Harvard struck first a little over 13 minutes into the game after it earned a penalty corner.

Junior midfielder Kristin Bannon took the corner and sent the ball to the top of the circle where sophomore forward Maggie McVeigh received the pass. McVeigh shoveled a pass off to freshman back Georgia McGillivray, who ripped a shot that flew by Husky goaltender Colleen Duffy.

“It felt awesome,” McGillivray said of scoring her first collegiate goal. “We’ve been working on corners all day, everyday, so it feels good to finally execute them properly.”

Only two minutes later, Northeastern tied the game.

Husky midfielder Kaela Barker received a pass on the edge of the circle and buried a one-timer in the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.

The Northeastern offense increased its pressure for the remainder of the period, but the score remained 1-1 until halftime, thanks primarily to the outstanding play of Stone. The Huskies recorded 12 shots in the opening frame, including eight shots on net, but time after time Stone turned each challenge away.

“Kylie had a nice game,” Harvard coach Sue Caples said. “She was very, very solid. She had to stand on her head a couple times, but that’s what you hope for from a veteran player.”

Five minutes into the second half, the Crimson regained the lead. On another penalty corner, McGillivray gathered the ball at the top of the circle.

This time, the freshman passed to senior back Francine Polet who fired a shot on net.

Sophomore midfielder Chloe Keating was standing in front of the net and managed to tip the ball past Duffy and into the cage.

Midway through the half, Harvard capitalized on a mistake, extending its lead after it turned the ball over in the Northeastern circle.

McVeigh had pushed the ball ahead and looked to cross it in front of the net, but the pass was intercepted by a Husky defender.

As Northeastern attempted to clear the threat, senior forward Tami Jafar stole the ball and, with her back to the goal, spun around and fired a shot into the cage.

Moments later, the Crimson struck again. This time, McVeigh drove along the left end line and tried to cross the ball to Jafar.

The senior was unable to gather the ball, which rolled to sophomore forward Leigh McCoy. McCoy collected the ball in front of the net and slipped it past Duffy for her team-leading fourth goal of the season.

With ten minutes left to play, Harvard began to see its three-goal lead slip away.

Off of a penalty corner, Husky midfielder Ashley Bascetta backed the ball into the middle of the circle and fired a shot past Stone.

Then, with just two minutes to play, Northeastern capitalized on another penalty corner. Bascetta received the ball at the top of the circle and ripped a shot that appeared to be traveling wide of the goal.

However, the ball deflected off of a Crimson defender who was standing in front of the right post, and it trickled past Stone to cut the lead to one.

The late surge was too little, too late for the Huskies, as Harvard held on in the waning moments and won its third straight game.

“We just have to keep on rolling,” Stone said. “We have to keep our focus on each game as it comes.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.