Crimson Edges Eagles in Season Finale Shootout

They fired up the lights at Harvard Stadium last night for the final match of the season for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team, a contest against their rivals across the river—Boston College.

On a night for honoring the seniors on the Harvard women’s lacrosse team, with the stands filled with players’ families and droves of Crimson faithful, the fourth year student-athletes were determined to cap off their careers with a bang.

“We just came out so fired up,” co-captain Natalie Curtis said. “We wanted to leave everything on the field and have no regrets.”

They got the job done.

The Crimson (9-7, Ivy 2-5) put up a strong finish to the 2008 campaign, notching a 14-11 win over the Eagles (6-10). It’s the highest win total for Harvard since 2002.

“It was a battle all over the field,” senior attacker Caroline Simmons said. “Boston College played well. They fought until the end. They never gave up.”

Curtis led the seniors in scoring on the night with three goals and an assist on her last night as captain of the squad.

“I think the team played so well,” Simmons added. “Our attack was really on. Natalie was amazing. Everyone played their hearts out.”

Simmons tallied a goal of her own, along with senior co-captain Lauren Bobzin.

The leading scorer on the night for the Crimson was junior Kaitlin Martin, who had two goals and three assists for five points. She finishes the season with 38 goals, 25 assists, and 63 points overall, which makes her Ivy League’s leading scorer.

Martin’s last goal, the 100th of her career, was a buzzer beater in the second half as time expired. Only eight players have reached that mark in the history of the Harvard program.

Freshman midfielder Jess Halpern and sophomore attacker Sara Flood paced the rest of Crimson scoring with three goals each, plus an assist for Halpern. Junior midfielder Sarah Bancroft also had a goal.

Harvard didn’t sway under Boston College’s stalwart defense.

“I thought it was a chippy, physical game,” head coach Lisa Miller said. “I thought we hung in there and kept putting pressure on. We stayed on our game plan. We didn’t let any of the physicality throw us off.”

Back and forth scoring marked the first half of the contest, as both teams were unable to pull away.

But the momentum of the game shifted with two quick goals five minutes into the second half. With Harvard leading 7-6, Flood intercepted a clear attempt by Eagles netminder Katie Monaghan and immediately fired a shot into the back of the net, bringing the score to 8-6. Martin recorded another goal just two minutes later to give the Crimson a comfortable lead.

The Eagles continued to apply pressure in the final minutes of the match, led by Lauren Costello, who recorded a career-high seven goals, but it was to no avail.

“I’m really happy for the team,” Miller added. “All of their hard work has paid off.”

Harvard will lose seven seniors this off-season, but they will enter next year coming off the momentum of one of their strongest seasons in years.

“We’ll go from being relatively old to being relatively young,” Miller said. “Our returning kids in the system did a great job. Our freshmen will just need some time to learn and break in. The question is how quick we can learn and blend old and new.”

Curtis has nothing but high hopes for the future of the program.

“Harvard women’s lacrosse is on the up and up,” Curtis said. “My freshman year we were 3-13, and now we’re 9-7. That’s phenomenal.”