Field Hockey Wins Final Game in OT

When Harvard field hockey challenged Columbia in New York on Sunday afternoon, the Crimson struggled mightily for the first 64 minutes of the contest, but came back with a vengeance to finish off the season on a high note.

The Lions led for the vast majority of the match, seizing an early lead and holding on until there were just over five minutes left. From there, however, sophomore back Elizabeth Jacobson refused to go down quietly, seizing control of the game for Harvard, and helping the team earn a 2-1 win.

Following a two-on-one opportunity, junior forward Catriona McDonald passed the ball to the center to Jacobson, who beat Columbia goalkeeper Kimberly Pianucci with a shot into the left corner of the net to tie the score.

The game proceeded to finish regulation 1-1. Just two minutes into overtime, Jacobson found the back of the net again, this time assisted by freshman forward Marissa Balleza, finishing the Crimson’s season with a win on a single shot.

“We worked in practice this week on finishing our opportunities,” senior goalkeeper Jenn Hatfield said. “[Jacobson] got those opportunities from some great work by other players, like Cat McDonald, Caitlin Rea, and Marissa Balleza, and she did a tremendous job of finishing them.”

Balleza is Harvard’s leading scorer this season and will now finish the year tied with the most assists as well. Jacobson’s two goals brought her season total to six, tied for the second most on the Crimson’s roster. She also scored and notched an assist in the team’s last game, marking an impressive end to her sophomore season.

Columbia (6-11, 2-5) took the lead 23 minutes into the game, as junior back Lauren Skudalski got the ball off of a rebound from a save made by Hatfield, and put it in the back of the net. Hatfield finished with five saves for Harvard (8-9, 2-5 Ivy), only allowing the one goal.

Both of these teams have struggled this season, posting a combined 3-9 Ancient Eight record coming into the match. They will finish the season tied for sixth and seventh place in the conference.

Early in the contest, it looked like the Lions might jump out to an even bigger advantage than it did. By the time the first half came to a close, Columbia had been awarded 11 penalty corners while the Crimson had received just three.

However, the Lions proved mostly unable to capitalize on those opportunities. The team took 10 shots in the first half, but only four of them actually made it to Hatfield. On the other hand, Harvard took five shots in the half and each was stopped by Pianucci or Columbia defenders.

It was a similar story in the second half, though more in favor of the Crimson. Coming out of the break, Harvard managed to take seven shots, all on net, including the score by Jacobson. The Lions only managed to tally two shots on goal in the second period out of a total of four attempts.

“In the second half, we committed to really going for it and playing our style of hockey,” Hatfield said. “We went out with confidence that we could win the game and we did a great job of being resilient.”

Overall, the Crimson finished with 10 of its 13 shots making it to or past the goalkeeper, while Columbia only went 6-for-14. This was a major difference in the match, as Pianucci was forced to make 10 saves while Hatfield only had to make five to secure the victory.

It was an important win for Harvard as it helped the team to finish the season with a victory and a record just below .500. Last season, the Crimson finished with a 3-13 record, and the team has not had a winning record since 2004. Many of the key players this year have been underclassmen, however, so Harvard will look to continue to improve in the upcoming seasons.

“From last year we made a huge jump on our fitness, competitiveness and I am very happy that the hard work that everyone has put in paid off with wins this year,” Crimson coach Tjerk Van Herwaarden said. “We will continue to grow and work hard to have another improved season next year."

—Staff writer Theo Levine can be reached at tlevine@college.harvard.edu.