The women’s lacrosse team will close out its regular season tomorrow against Harvard on Schoellkopf Field at 1 p.m. The Red (9-5, 3-3 Ivy) will hold its Senior Day and honor the six members of the Class of 2003 before the game. Tomorrow’s game will also be the last game coached by Crimson coach Carole Kleinfelder, who retires after a 24-year career at Harvard that includes a national title and 12 Ivy League championships.
“I think we’ll go out with a bang. Last year, [we played Harvard] in our last league game of the season, and we struggled,” said senior Sarah Averson.
“We were down four goals and we had to fight back, it wasn’t a really good memory against Harvard. We just hope not to repeat that from last year.”
The Red pulled out a tight 12-9 win against No. 15 Stanford on Monday, with sophomore Lindsay Steinberg scoring a career-high five goal, two assist performance. Cornell capitalized on the Cardinal’s zone defense and was able to score six straight goals early in the game. Stanford fought hard until the end, scoring two goals down the stretch to cut the lead to three, but the Red prevailed.
The Crimson (3-10, 1-5 Ivy) is coming off its first league win of the season, having defeated Columbia, 10-8, last Saturday.
Its leading scorers, Katie Shaughnessy and Elaine Belitsos, have combined for almost half of the team’s offensive production this season. Goalie Laura Mancini currently has a 10.44 goals against average and .531 save percentage in 13 starts.
“We have to respect the intensity of the Ivy League,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86. “Last year, we had a one-goal game with Harvard, and Harvard was in the same position last year, bottom of the Ivies and an unranked team. They pulled it together, and we beat them 9-8. We need to remember that and play like we did [against Stanford].”
History
The Red has beaten Harvard four straight times, after dropping the previous 19 contests against the Crimson. The seniors will look to pass the Class of 2002 for most wins in program history with a win tomorrow.
Currently, the classes are tied with 49 wins.
Freshman Allison Schindler can also set a milestone of her own, as she is just three assists away from tying the single season assist record of 27 held by Linda Miller ’84.
Senior Sarah Fischer, who missed two games due to injury, returned the lineup last weekend against Yale, and saw more playing time against Stanford on Monday.
The seniors are looking to put forth a solid effort at the culmination of their college careers.
“All the seniors are ready to get out there and have fun, and work a little magic. We want to step on the field and spark the team, and I think that’s the focus of our game for Saturday,” said senior co-captain Rachel Friedman.
Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach