Feb. 24, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's lacrosse team earned its first victory on the season, knocking off Harvard, 18-13, Sunday afternoon at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
After a back-and-forth first half that saw the teams trade a series of goals, Stanford dominated the second period of play, outshooting Harvard 18-8 en route to outscoring the Crimson 10-7 and securing the win.
Anna Kim led Stanford (1-1) with five points on two goals and three assists. While fellow junior Rachel Ozer continued to be an offensive force, notching four points with a goal and a three assists. Ozer opened the season a week ago with a team-high five points against No. 9 Notre Dame.
Freshman Lucy Dikeou joined Ozer with four points on the day, scoring twice and adding two assists. Dikeou also picked up five draw controls and a ground ball in her second collegiate match.
Junior Megan Lerner had a big defensive effort picking up a team-high eight draw controls along with three ground balls and causing one forced turnover.
Stanford dominated draw controls overall, finishing with a 21-12 advantage.
Stanford opened the game trading a pair of goals with Harvard in the first five minutes and trailed 3-2 at just over seven minutes into the period. The Cardinal responded with three consecutive goals, beginning with Megan Lentz's unassisted tally at the 8:50 mark. Lentz had a solid performance coming off the bench, recording a hat trick on four shots.
Harvard answered by going on a 3-0 run to take 6-5 lead. Dikeou scored just 47 seconds later to end the Crimson run and tie the score at six-all.
After Dikeou's goal, Stanford freshman goalkeeper Katie Wiseman made her collegiate debut as she subbed in for junior Lyndsey Munoz to finish out the half. Wiseman recorded her first career save and Stanford closed out the period adding two goals to take an 8-6 lead into halftime.
Munoz returned to the cage after halftime but did not see much action as Stanford maintained a majority of the possession in the offensive zone.
Rachel Hinds opened the scoring in the second, capping a 4-0 run for Stanford that carried over through halftime. After a Harvard goal closed the gap to a 9-7 lead for Stanford, the Cardinal expanded its advantage by going on its second 3-0 scoring run on the game.
Stanford would add fourth set of three or more consecutive goals later in the half, as it stretched its lead to 16-9 with 12:50 to play.
Harvard again responded by scoring three consecutive goals of its own, but Stanford was able to stop the late comeback effort by scoring twice and maintaining possession in the final minutes.
Stanford will hit the road for its first away game of the season as it takes on Ohio State at 9 a.m. (PT) on Saturday, March 2, in Columbus, Ohio.