Spring break for the Harvard women's lacrosse team ended quite differently than it began.

The Crimson opened the break with a tough loss on the road to defending national champion and top-ranked Princeton, 10-5. Harvard fought valiantly in the loss and went into half-time tied at 3-3.

The Tigers, however, came up with six straight goals to begin the second half and the 9-3 barrier proved too much for the Crimson to overcome.

Senior attacker Sarah Winters led the Crimson effort, scoring two goals and adding one assist. Winters' performance earned her a spot on last week's Ivy League Honor Roll.

The loss dropped the Crimson to 1-1 in Ivy competition.

Harvard followed the Princeton loss with a trip to Florida and a non-conference battle with Stanford last Friday.

Harvard quickly rebounded from its loss to Princeton, thrashing the Cardinal, 21-2.

Junior attacker Erin Cleary led the Crimson attack, netting four goals and one assist in the win. For her efforts, Cleary was named to this week's Honor Roll.

With the win over Stanford, Harvard improved its record to 3-1, overall. The Crimson, currently ranked seventh in the latest national poll, has outscored its opponents 82-24 in four games.

Individually, Winters leads the squad in scoring, with nine goals and four assists. Sophomore goalie Kate Schutt leads the Ivy League with a 4.57 goals-against-average.

The Crimson returns to Ivy play today with a home match against Yale, which comes in ranked 15th nationally.

While Harvard was pounding Stanford in Florida, the rest of the Ivy League battled it out within the conference, giving the league race some early excitement.

Most notably, Dartmouth upset Princeton, 10-9, to take control of the Ivy standings. The Big Green jumped out to a 7-1 halftime lead and then held on for the victory.

Senior attacker Lauren Holleran led the Big Green with three goals and two assists. Holleran was named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week.

The win opened Dartmouth's Ivy campaign and raised its overall record to 4-0. The Big Green, ranked number five nationally, had beaten Boston College, 11-4, earlier in the week.