VanderMeulen kept the game from getting out of hand, adding a free position shot. But it was all Bulldogs for the rest of the half.
Caroline Crow’s goal with 16:45 remaining ignited a 7-0 Yale run to close out the half. Yale got out of the gates quickly to start the second, as Rhodes notched two scores to put her team up by 11.
“I think we had a hard time covering their cutters,” Baskind said. “They’re a much more passing-oriented team than we expected. In the past we’ve faced teams that are much more direct in their attack.”
With the loss, the Crimson moves into the fifth spot in the conference standings. If Harvard hopes to earn one of the four berths in the Ivy League tournament, the Crimson will likely need to come away with wins in tough contests against No. 9 Dartmouth and No. 17 Princeton.
“We’re not in the position that we’d like to be in,” Baskind said. “I think we’re going to need a little a bit of help from this point on.”
—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.