Women’s lax falls to Harvard 11–6

The Boston University women’s lacrosse team extended its losing streak to four games with an 11–6 loss against Harvard University in Cambridge Wednesday.

Harvard (8–5) opened the scoring off the stick of sophomore Audrey Todd. Junior attack Lindsay Weiner answered back for BU with an unassisted goal less than a minute later.

The Crimson then tallied three more goals off of shots from junior Sophia Capone, sophomore Alexis Nicolia and freshman Megan Hennessey.

BU quickly answered back with 11:23 remaining with a score from senior attack Elizabeth Morse. Weiner assisted the goal, making it a 4–2 game. It was her second goal of the night. Redshirt sophomore Mallory Collins kept the streak going following a helper from junior attack Jenna Boarman to make it a one-goal game with 10:51 left in the half.

Freshman Marisa Romeo broke the Terriers run with a scorching shot off the free-position opportunity. Not to be outdone, Collins fired back to make the score 5–4 with 5:44 to go in the opening frame.

However, it was Harvard who got the last point of the period, when Capone took a rip off the assist from Todd, giving the Crimson a two-goal lead going into halftime.

“We put up a good battle in the beginning and we looked good,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw.

Freshman goalkeeper Caroline Meegan started between the pipes for the Terriers, stopping two shots of the eight she faced. On the other end of the field, Harvard started sophomore Kelly Weis, who saved two of the six shots against her.

“We were comfortable with Caroline in goal today,” Robertshaw said. “But it seemed like she had a little harder time seeing the ball in the free position against some really strong shooters.”

The second half opened up with an unassisted snipe from Todd. Weiner followed by contributing her third point of the night with an unassisted goal 20 seconds later.

With the completion of the hat trick from Todd, Harvard again took the three-point lead, making the contest 8-5. Romeo found the back of the net once again with 8:22 left, and Todd delivered her fourth mark of the night widening the gap even further.

The Terriers returned the favor off the stick of Morse, helped by sophomore midfielder Jill Horka. But it was too late for BU, as Harvard’s Romeo sealed the deal for the Crimson, giving her an Ivy League leading 40 goals on the season. The freshman’s third of the contest extended the lead to 11–6 in favor of Harvard, putting the game out of reach for the Terriers.

“Those two players [Romeo and Todd] are great,” Robertshaw said. “Romeo is likely going to win Rookie of the Year in the Ivy League and it’s hard to stop her cold. Audrey Todd took full advantage today too.

“Opportunity is dwindling. We need to value possession of the ball and execute. Defensively it was a good game. Horka was great on draws, but on offense there weren’t too many opportunities.”

Although the shot totals were even at 22 for each side, Harvard held advantages in almost every other statistical category, including turnovers, ground balls and draw controls.

“We didn’t value possession of the ball,” Robertshaw said. “We wanted to clean up our turnovers in the second half and we didn’t clean them up. We had 14 turnovers, but in my brain, it looked like 30. We can’t win a game like that.”

Both Meegan and Weis played the full 60 minutes for their respective teams. Meegan made five saves out of 16 shots on goal and Weis made seven saves out of 13 shots on goal.

Overall, Robertshaw said she was proud of her team’s play.

“It was a better fight mentally today,” she said. “We did a good job of being there and really playing in the moment. But if we want to win games, we can’t be okay with turnovers. The attack really needs to step up and value the opportunities the defense has presented.”