Women's Lacrosse: Harvard 15, Marquette 6

Last year, Marquette took a bit of a kicking from Harvard, falling 18-4 down at Valley Fields.  Through the first 30 minutes in Boston on Saturday afternoon, things seemed to have improved a bit.  The Golden Eagles found themselves trailing the Crimson by only three goals, 5-2.  Yes, Marquette hadn't scored in over 15 minutes when Emily Donovan cut Harvard's lead to just 3-2, but still a major improvement over the 12-1 thrashing in the first half a year ago.

And then the second half started.

Harvard extended their unanswered scoring streak to five straight goals to start the second half, including a pair from leading scorer Marisa Romeo on either side of the break.  By the time Donovan broke the run, it was 8-3, and when Amanda Bochniak scored halfway through the second half, the lead had ballooned to 10-4.  Claire Costanza and Kenzie Brown made sure that Harvard never got more than two goals in a row for the rest of the game, but things were already pretty much over.

Harvard outshot Marquette 38-25 on the day, but there was an issue of quality at work.  MU goalie Sarah Priem made 11 saves in the game, which means the Crimson only managed to put 26 of their shots on frame.  Meanwhile, Marquette forced Harvard's Kelly Weis to make 13 stops for a total of 19 of their 25 shots on net.  Priem also did an excellent job cleaning the mess away from her net, recording a season high 22 ground balls in the contest.

MU was led in scoring by three points each from Bochniak (1G, 2A) and Costanza (2G, 1A).  Harvard's attack was powered by four goals from Romeo and a five point (4G, 1A) day from Megan Hennessey.

Up Next: It's another stern test for the Golden Eagles, as they head to South Bend, Indiana, on Wednesday to face off with Notre Dame.  The Irish are currently ranked #6 in the country and carry a record of 6-3 on the season.  All three losses have come in ACC league play, including a 16-10 defeat in their most recent game to #2 Maryland.