13 years later, lacrosse gets first home Ivy win

At a school as old as Columbia, it is difficult to imagine that there are still firsts to be had in 2011.

On Friday, the Columbia lacrosse team (3-8, 1-4 Ivy) crushed Yale (2-10, 0-5 Ivy) 10-3 in the program’s first ever win over the Bulldogs. However, what is most impressive about the win isn’t the lopsided score—3 goals is the smallest amount any of Columbia’s league opponents has been held to—but the fact that it was the Light Blue’s first-ever Ivy League win at home after 13 years of conference play. In fact, before this weekend, the Lions had only recorded two conference wins.Both were against Harvard in away matches, one in 2005, and the other in 2009.

“It feels pretty awesome. We all felt like it was a little overdue, we’ve all been working at it for so long,” junior goalkeeper Karlee Blank said of the win.

“From what I understand, that was one of the biggest wins in the history of the program,” first-year head coach Liz Kittleman said. What made it all the sweeter was that it came on senior day, the last home game of the season.

The first half of the contest featured strong defensive play defenses on both sides of the field. About five minutes into regulation, sophomore attacker Kacie Johnson, who was named Offensive Player of the Week, put Columbia on the scoreboard after she successfully side-armed a shot into the net. The Lions held onto the lead until the Bulldogs scored two unanswered goals that were six minutes apart. Going into halftime, the Light Blue managed to tie it up 2-2, thanks to freshman midfielder Camille Richardson.

Despite keeping the game close, Kittleman thought that the Lions were capable of a lot more.

“Our attack just didn’t go hard enough in the first half, so it was very easy for the Yale defenders to defend them. We reminded them of the game plan, and went through the Xs and Os, and made sure they understood, ‘The game is in your hands if you want it, but you have to go a lot harder in the second half than you did in the first,’” she said.

During the second half, the Lions broke the game open.

“Our attack just took the field with a lot more confidence in the second half,” Kittleman said.

She was right—Columbia scored eight goals after the intermission. Freshman midfielder Paige Cuscovitch scored within the opening three minutes, and Johnson followed up with another seven minutes later. Yale managed to pull within one at the halfway mark, but that was all Blank would allow. The Lions wrapped up the game with six unanswered goals.

Both Cuscovitch and Blank had particularly impressive outings. The rookie midfielder recorded a career-high four goals, three of which she scored consecutively midway through the second half.

“Her [Cuscovitch’s] string of goals in the second half created a major shift in the game’s momentum,” senior attacker Gabrielle Geronimos wrote in an email. Geronimos also contributed one goal to the Lions’ total.

Blank ended the day with 15 saves, including several outstanding point-blank stops late in the second half that were key in the Lions’ win. However, the goalkeeper was quick to cite the team’s success in place of her own.

“I think that we all played very well together as a team, and that each one of us, we really came out with a desire to win for the seniors and to bring them the proof of all their hard work for their four years, and how much work we as a team this year have contributed,” she said.

For a team that for so long has had to become accustomed to losing in the Ancient Eight, the victory over Yale is certainly a big moment in the program’s history. As the Lions look forward to the rest of the season, Friday’s win will certainly be on their minds.

“If that doesn’t propel you forward, I don’t know what does,” Kittleman said. “I think it will help tremendously that they’ve gotten over that mental hurdle that they can’t win in this league, because they definitely can.”

Geronimos agreed.

“This year’s team is committed to building the Columbia lacrosse program, and believes that our recent successes are only the beginning,” she said. “The Yale win is a testament to what the future holds for Columbia Lacrosse.”