The Harvard women's lacrosse team held the Ivy League co-leader Princeton scoreless for the second half in a 6-4 loss last Saturday.

The Crimson had hoped the momentum from that defensive effort would carry into yesterday's matchup with the Ivy's other top team Dartmouth. (9-1, 5-0 Ivy)

It didn't last thirteen seconds.

At 29:47 in the first half, Dartmouth sophomore midfielder Jacque Weitzel beat junior goaltender Kate Schutt for the first of Dartmouth's 20-goal barrage en route to a crushing 20-7 defeat of Harvard (3-7, 1-4).

"They were a talented team, but we did not at all show what kind of team we were," said acting Coach Liz Berkery Drury '93. "If we had played like we did on Saturday, we would have beaten them."

The Crimson managed to keep it close for the first fifteen minutes. After Dartmouth built a 4-1 lead, the Crimson defense tightened, which allowed both sophomore attacker Ashley Birch and junior defender Claudio Asano to score and bring Harvard within a goal.

But the Crimson would draw no closer.

"We started to play our game, getting physical and competing for ground balls," said Drury. "But when [we] got down, [we] hung our heads and backed off."

Harvard certainly got down.

At 7:34, Harvard was whistled for the second of numerous three-second violations. Big Green freshman Amy Zimmer took the free position and blasted a shot past Schutt to widen the Dartmouth lead to 5-3.

Zimmer's goal started a six-goal run for the Big Green which lasted the remainder of the half. While Dartmouth dominated play, Harvard was victimized most by its own mistakes. Four of the Big Green's six goals in this stretch came directly after three-second violations.

"We weren't quite focused, our game sense wasn't there," said captain defender Keren Gudeman. "Our defense just didn't communicate."

Despite trailing 10-3, Harvard had thoughts of a second-half comeback. Eleven seconds into the period, freshman attacker Erin Aeschliman's quick goal attempted to spark a rally.

"We came out in the second half ready to come back," said captain attacker Honor MacNaughton. "I don't think anyone had given up."

Dartmouth quickly dashed all hopes when Weitzel promptly responded, dashing up the middle of the Crimson defense to make the score 11-4.