Despite a strong 11-6 win over Dartmouth in the opening round of the New England Championships, the Crimson laxwomen spent a disappointing weekend in New Haven. A close 3-2 loss to number-one seeded Yale, in round two, ruined their title hopes and sent them into a tailspin that resulted in losses to the University of Rhode Island and the University of New Hampshire in the consolation rounds.

Yale went on to lose the tournament finale to the University of Massachusetts, in a tight 6-5 game.

The Big Green gave the Crimson a rough time, but attack wing Sue St. Louis had little trouble slipping the Dartmough zone for six tallies. St. Louis tossed in an amazing shot from 20 yards out that caught the goalie sleeping and squeezed into the right-hand corner of the cage.

Freshman Cat Ferrante again proved herself a capable playmaker while directing the offense with perfect passes out to the wings. On an impressive decoy play. Ferrante charged down the center of the field, drew the defense after her and then sent St. Louis an arrow-straight pass. St. Louis completed the play by going one-on-one with the Dartmouth point and scoring on a ground shot.

"Cat Ferrante put the attack together, set up the plays and kept us moving," St. Louis said. "She played smart, heads-up lacrosse, all weekend," St. Louis added.

The Yale Bulldogs were not intimidated by the loss the Crimson handed them last Tuesday, as they went on the field Saturday afternoon with plans of winning back their pride. The Bulldogs got off to a quick 2-0 lead when first home Tracy Ball once again demonstrated her offensive prowess by plowing through the Crimson defense for the opening tallies.

The Harvard squad fought back in the second half with goals by St. Louis and center Julie Cornman. Cornman's score came when she alertly picked up a St. Louis shot which had bounced off the goalie's pads.

Power

Yale took the lead with less than five minutes remaining, sending Ball in alone for the winning goal. For the rest of the contest, the Bulldogs frustrated the Crimson with their passing game, attempting to draw the defense out and stall the game.

The Crimson played flat in their third round game with Rhode Island. They managed to gain a 6-6 tie, but then lost in overtime when Rhode Island pushed through the go-ahead goal. This single tally proved to be the difference as the Crimson tried fruitlessly to shift the momentum in their favor.

In their final game, the laxwomen just could not contain New Hampshire's Kathy Sanborn. Sanborn penetrated the Crimson defense at will and led her team to an 11-6 victory over an unimpressive. Harvard team.

"We were really psyched to beat Yale and it was frustrating to see our championship hopes go down the drain with that loss," Cornman said yesterday.