The best defense is a good offense. Or vice-versa.

With a high-powered offense and a tenacious defense, the Harvard women's lacrosse team destroyed Boston College, 12-2, yesterday at B.C.

The Crimson (now 1-1 overall) tallied three straight goals during the first two minutes of the contest, and increased their lead to 7-1 by halftime.

In the second half, B.C. changed its defensive strategy, choosing to sit back in a zone. But that strategy proved futile, as Harvard tallied five more goals to close its first victory of the young season.

"The first part was basically fast breaks, but the second half was more passing," Crimson junior Cindi Ersek said. "We worked on going through the zone."

"I think we played really well." Harvard Captain Kelly McBride said. "We won a lot of draws, which was a key for our offense. Our goalies, Kelly Dermody and Laura Costa, played really well also."

The Crimson passed the wealth around, as seven laxwomen contributed to the scoring, with Felsen leading the way with three goals.

Also scoring for the Crimson were McBride, Leelee Groome and Char Joslin, each of whom tallied two goals. Ersek, Nicole DeHoratius and Ann Dowling rounded out the scoring for the Crimson with a goal apiece.

"We had a balanced attack," Kate Felsen said. "If one of our players is shut down, five others can score. We forced a lot of turnovers."

During spring break, the laxwomen will play five games in seven days, including visits to Penn, Princeton and Loyola.