Lacrosse Loses Three of Four Matches Over Break

For Columbia lacrosse, spring break meant the beginning of the toughest stretch of its schedule. The Lions played five games, two across the country and three against teams in the top 10. They left for the road trip undefeated, beating three lesser opponents without having to turn in a full 60-minute effort.

Columbia (4-3, 0-2 Ivy) is still looking for a game to put in a good effort for all 60 minutes. Columbia dropped three of four over break in a stretch that included the team’s first two Ivy League games. Columbia lost 16-4 to No. 10 Cornell and 14-1 to No. 9 Dartmouth on Sunday. The Lions also lost a tight 11-10 decision to California. The lone win came March 18 against St. Mary’s of California by 9-7. The Lions will complete the toughest portion Wednesday against the best team on its schedule, No. 2 Princeton. The Lions believe they are a talented team and showed it on the trip.

At the end of the game against Cal, Columbia stormed back from a 10-7 deficit, playing what Head Coach Celine Cunningham called “[Our] best lacrosse ever.”

The Lions fell just short in that game, one they think could have won.

“It was disappointing, we should have beaten them,” first-year attacker Moira O’Toole said.

There was the first half against Dartmouth when the defense resisted a relentless Big Green attack, made more potent by the Lions’ inability to get the ball through the midfield to its attackers. The Lions went into the half trailing 6-0, but they had been forced to play defense for nearly the entire 30 minutes.

“We played a good first half against Dartmouth, but we were on defense too long,” Cunningham said. “They had to work. We contained them very well. But we were kind of tired of being on defense.”

Dartmouth controlled all the possession statistics, winning 10 of 17 center draws and fielding 44 ground balls to Columbia’s nine. The Big Green ran up the score in the final 13 minutes against a tired Columbia defense, turning a 7-1 lead into 14-1 routing.

“I think our defensive unit should be proud of how we played,” senior defender Whitney Crisman said.

Crisman returned to the starting line-up against Dartmouth. She missed the first three games with injury and then came off the bench for the next three. The Lions started the trip by coming out flat in their Ivy League opener. This enabled the Big Red to jump out to a 9-1 halftime lead en route to the 16-4 win.

“We weren’t aggressive on the draw [against Cornell]; that really affects the game. I think we as team gave that game away,” Crisman said.

For the rest of the trip, the Lions mixed the positive and the poor. Against St. Mary’s, the Lions survived without playing their best game, dropping the Gaels to 0-5 with a low-key 9-7 win. Against Cal, the Lions played in fits and starts for the first 55 minutes before turning up the pressure in the frantic final five minutes.

In the Dartmouth loss, the Lions midfield failed to complete clears and to relieve the pressure on the defense, which led to the breakdowns in the second half.

For the trip sophomore attacker Adie Moll racked up nine goals. Moll was the second-leading goal scorer for the Lions last season, but had gotten off to a slow start in the scoring department. First-year Amy Galbraith scored her first three collegiate goals on the trip, notching two against St. Mary’s. Against Cal, first-year Moira O’Toole had a six-point game (two goals, four assists) and led the team in points with 16.

The Lions will have to win at least one Ivy League game to have an above-.500 record for the first time in the history of the program. But winning that one Ivy League game is something the program has never done. And this season the challenge is tougher than in the past—five of the eight teams in the Ivy League are ranked in the top 20. But with Princeton on the radar screen, the Lions are looking to keep building on each performance. They are looking for a complete 60 minutes.

“Princeton’s a great team. We understand that this loss is okay, but we want to close the gap. Against Princeton you want to see improvement,” O’Toole said.