The women’s lacrosse team hosted Harvard Saturday at Stevenson-Pincince field in the first contest of a three-game April homestand. While the Bears kept it close initially, two unanswered six-goal runs spelled victory for the Crimson (8-5, 4-1 Ivy). Having lost five of their last six games and without a conference victory on the season, the Bears (4-8, 0-5) share last place in the Ivy League with Dartmouth (5-7, 0-5).
A competitive first eight minutes saw the Bears take a slight 2-3 advantage over the Crimson. But in the ensuing 5:30, Harvard mounted its first run, finding the back of the net six straight times to grab an 8-3 advantage.
“Despite the runs Harvard went on, we didn’t stop believing that we would come away with the win and trusted that we could bounce back,” said Hafsa Moinuddin ’19. “As a team, we tried to just revert back to playing Brown lacrosse, executing our game plan and trusting everyone to do their job as best they could.”
A 5-0 run for Bruno, including two free position goals from Moinuddin, two tallies from Emma Dahle ’18 and a solo goal from KC Williams ’20, brought the Bears within one. But Harvard answered with three straight for a 12-8 halftime lead.
The beginning of the second half saw Moinuddin bag another goal from a free position shot and Zoe Verni ’19 find the net off an assist from Dahle.
In response to their narrowing advantage, Harvard went on another run, again netting six unanswered to grab a 19-10 lead with only 5:51 to play in the second half. The run all but ensured the win for the Crimson.
Rachel Vercillo ’20 and Carolyn Paletta ’18.5 tallied the game’s final two goals, but Bruno fell 19-12 — the team’s third straight loss.
Harvard picked up 20 ground balls to Brown’s eight and outshot Bruno by a 40-31 margin. Though the Bears were a perfect 2-2 from free position shots in the first half, Brown only finished two of its six free position shots in the second half to go 4-8 on the game. Harvard was a perfect 4-4 from free position shots.
The loss mathematically eliminates Brown from the Ivy League Championship Series. Still, Moinuddin was a bright spot in the defeat, tallying a career-high seven points with four assists and three goals.
“I definitely felt good during the game and just kept trusting our systems, knowing we would find the openings,” Moinuddin said. “I knew I needed to challenge hard, and if I got fouled, I wanted to make them pay by finishing my free position shots. My teammates did a great job of getting open and finishing on the feeds I was able to get to them.”
Paletta and Dahle were also notable contributors to Brown’s offensive effort, each netting two goals and adding an assist.
Bruno will play at home Wednesday under the lights of Stevenson-Pincince field, when the Bears take on the University of Massachusetts Lowell — a squad that has also lost five of its last six matchups.
“Going forward, we want to finish out the rest of the season 3-0,” Moinuddin said. “Our team has immense pride in this program and in each other, and despite not being able to make it to the Ivy Tournament, it will still feel good to get wins against Columbia and Dartmouth.”
