“We’re a better team than we were a month ago,” said Russell.  “We’ve been working really hard mornings and afternoons.  Maybe we’ve worked harder than Brown.  This will give us confidence as we focus on Princeton and Brown during the Championship portion of our season.”

HARVARD 8, CONNECTICUT COLLEGE 1

The Crimson continued its dominance of Connecticut College yesterday morning as it handily beat the Camels 8-1. Having rolled over Connecticut 17-2 the night before, the Crimson altered its game plan in order to not drive up the score and work on their technical skills.

“We worked on our pics, side drives in order to help us out tonight against Brown,” said junior 2-meter defender Teresa Codini. “Instead of going out on a counter-attack immediately, we wait up to play a 6-on-6 offense, which we will need against Brown.”

Even while holding Harvard still had no trouble beating the Camels. Junior driver Diane Dewey got the balling rolling as she sunk one past Connecticut’s Margaret Minnick less than two minutes into the game.

Harvard’s aggression on D against the Camels’ passive offense created turnovers and gave the Crimson several offensive opportunities.  The Camel’s only goal came with 3:46 left in the second period.

The score is a testament to Harvard’s depth, as only one person, Teresa Codini, scored more than one of the Crimson’s two goals. Harvard rotated their players regularly and switched from sophomore Lydia Gardner to Miller at the half. Slowing down the game enabled Harvard to practice its passing, many times causing them to flirt with the shot clock before nailing one into the goal.

“We wanted to get the ball moving for tonight,” said Tina Codini.

BROWN 3, HARVARD 1

With its strongest showing against its archrival in over a year, the Crimson fell narrowly to Brown in a grueling 3-1 grudge match.  Harvard managed to hold the physical Bears scoreless in the first period, before Brown rattled off two unanswered goals in the second period.  

The Bears’ Jackie Parente powered both of Brown’s first two points past Gardner.  

Down 2-0 at the half, the Crimson went into the second half maintaining their high quality of play.  

 “Usually we try to come out strong and not get pushed around against a physical team like Brown,” Tina Codini said. “We did that.”

Harvard stayed in the faces of the aggressive Brown offense, enabling few attempts at goal.  With 3:11 left in the third quarter, Brown was able to break through the Crimson defense again, as the Bears’ Lauren McGeoch fired one past Gardner.

Harvard stayed strong on defense as Gardner denied another Brown attempt with 1:57 left to play. Finally with 1:27 left in the quarter, Harvard put its hard work on the scoreboard as Keyser lofted a shot past the Brown keeper, making it 3-1.