In a final tune-up before Saturday’s Ivy showdown with No. 7 Princeton, the Harvard field hockey team proved that it has the confidence, skill, and motivation to challenge the Tigers for this year’s Ivy League title.
The Crimson (7-4, 3-0 Ivy) put forth strong effort on both sides of the ball and pasted crosstown foe Boston College (7-7) 5-0 yesterday afternoon at Jordan Field.
The Harvard offense exploded for its highest scoring effort of the season, and the defense combined with goalies Katie Zacarian and Aliaa Remtilla to post its third shutout this year.
Harvard Coach Sue Caples found the performance of the offense to be especially encouraging heading into this weekend.
“It was certainly nice to score some goals,” said Caples. “We needed that.”
The key goal for the Crimson came off the stick of freshman forward Tiffany Egnaczyk at an important juncture with only 50 seconds remaining in the first half.
With Harvard clinging to a 1-0 lead in the middle of a Boston College rally, freshman back Shelley Maasdorp made a beautiful pass from midfield to the top of the circle to Egnaczyk, who spun around a defender and backhanded a shot past Eagles goalie Lauren Hill.
The tally put the Crimson up 2-0 and gave the team the necessary momentum to dominate the Eagles in the second half.
Reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week freshman midfielder Kate Gannon scored her third goal in as many games on a rebound five minutes into the second half to increase the Crimson advantage to 3-0.
Just six minutes later, Gannon struck again as she fed sophomore forward Mina Pell at the top of the circle. Pell picked up her second goal of the game on a slapshot to make the score 4-0.
Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Andrews scored her first career goal less than a minute later on a penalty corner to round out the scoring at 5-0.
While the Harvard offense was putting the game out of reach in the second half, the Crimson defense made absolutely sure that B.C. didn’t rally back into the game.
Harvard’s defenders stifled the Boston College attack for most of the second stanza, allowing only two shots, and the Eagles didn’t manage a scoring opportunity until the 62nd minute.
The B.C. offense, led by junior forward Kim French and senior forward Gina Dinan, produced some good rushes during the first half but managed few shots as the Crimson defense came up with some key stops.
Zacarian was solid in goal, making five saves to contribute to Harvard’s second consecutive shutout. Remtilla saw her first collegiate action late in the second half and made two saves.
Zacarian credited the efforts of her teammates for the shutout.
“We really stayed consistently strong throughout the whole 70 minutes,” she said. “That was a huge goal for us this game.”
The Crimson’s first goal of the afternoon was one of two scored off penalty corners, an area in which the team has struggled this year. Pell, who leads the team with six goals this season, tipped in a pass from Maasdorp to put Harvard up 1-0 in the 17th minute.
Coach Caples was pleased to see the penalty corner attack come together.
“It’s especially nice to score off corners since that hasn’t happened yet [this season],” Caples said.
Yesterday’s victory gives the Crimson the confidence of two consecutive wins heading into its match with Princeton, which will likely decide this year’s league champion.
However, Caples still believes that it will take a lot more than the Crimson showed against the Eagles to beat the Tigers.
“We know what it takes [to beat Princeton],” Caples said. “I think a team like Princeton is gonna bring out the best in us.”
The start of Saturday’s game is scheduled for noon at Jordan Field.
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