Vince Lombardi once said that "Winning isn't everything; its the only thing." Although the Harvard women's lacrosse team may not agree with the adage, it continued to keep winning its only thing Saturday at Soldiers Field. The Crimson trounced an improved University of Rhode Island squad, 13-3, upping its record to an unblemished 8-0.
Harvard played a near perfect first half, jumping out 'o a 7-0 advantage and allowing no shots on goal. The three times that URI managed to get the ball past the midfield stripe, the Crimson defense shut them down immediately.
Maureen Finn, who led the Crimson scoring with a double hat trick performance, said of the attack's play. "We were really clicking. Our passing was on: our shooting was on: the players were on. Everything worked."
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Left wing Jennifer White drew first blood for the Crimson with 3:27 gone in the first half. Annie MacMillan broke down the left side of the field and fired a perfect strike to "Whitey" who cut across the goal mouth and beat URI goalkeeper Tracy Anders with a bounce shot.
Physicians Who Engineer, Too
The laxwomen notched all the goals they needed in the next ten minutes as Francesca Den Hartog and Finn tallied one each, before the MacMillan-to-White combo clicked again at 11:19.
URI opened second half scoring with a goal at 24:12. As Rams co-captain Mary Jane Cole left a suprised Harvard defense in the dust, breaking one on nothing against Crimson keeper Charlotte Worsley and winging the ball into the upper left corner of the net.
The Rams never got closer, though, as the Crimson scored four unanswered goals before Cole scored again 17 minutes later.
Harvard pounded the URI goal with 46 on the game and Anders, who Rams coach Alison Walsh termed the "best collegiate goalie in the area," made a whopping 31 saves, keeping the score reasonable.
Sox in Seven
The URI squad, however, showed signs of improvement over last year's performance, when the Crimson triumphed 7-1. The URI zone, which had worried Crimson coach Carole Kleinfelder earlier in the week, showed its grit in the second half, crowding the Harvard offense and causing slopping passing.
THE NOTEBOOK: Francesca Den Hartog (30 goals, 8 assists) and Maureen Finn (28 goals, 14 assists) continue to lead the Crimson in scoring...Charlotte Worsley was named the , "Ivy League Women's Athlete of the Week" for her outstanding play thus far this season.
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