Crimson Staves Off Lacrosse, Lions Continue Losing Streak

The Columbia women’s lacrosse team extended its losing streak to eight games this weekend with a heartbreaking 12-8 loss to the Harvard Crimson on Saturday.
The five seniors who were honored before their last conference and weekend game of the season—Marisa Marcellino, Ashley Mehl, Samantha Morris, Dana Riley, and Kristen Teatom—could not have asked for a more beautiful day to celebrate their Columbia careers. The only thing they could have hoped for was a victory.

The Crimson, which is 2-4 in conference games and 8-6 overall, has always proved a formidable foe for the Lions, edging them out 14-12 and 13-12 in the past two seasons. With this loss, the Light Blue, which has only two games left in the regular season—both against nonconference teams—will face another season without an Ivy League victory.

Harvard outdid the Lions in almost all respects on Saturday, leading them in shots-on-goal, draw controls, and ground balls. The Crimson also had significantly fewer turnovers than Columbia did, giving up the ball only eight times compared to Columbia’s 17.

The most impressive offensive players on the Light Blue’s side were sophomore attacker Brittany Shannon, who scored four goals to bring her season total up to 31, and junior attack Holly Glynn, who earned three goals to bring her total to 38.
To compare, Glynn’s total is already three more than that of last year’s leading scorer—Rachael Ryan—who only had 35 goals on the whole season.

Junior goalie Emma Mintz had an impressive defensive showing, racking up 15 saves—nine of which came in the first half—and six clears. Mintz has had a very impressive season—she has 113 saves with two games against feisty competitors left to play.

Though they are in last place and have a 0-7 record in the Ancient Eight, the Lions have typically done much better in nonconference games. They are 3-3 in games against non-Ivy League schools and will look to extend their record to 4-3 against University of California, Berkeley at home this afternoon.

While the Light Blue does not play West Coast teams often, for the past two years the team has traveled out west during spring break to play teams from California and Oregon.

The Golden Bears are riding a five-game winning streak coming into Monday’s game at Lawrence Wien Stadium and have beaten all but one team on their East Coast trip.

The Lions will need to keep strong on offense to beat Cal, which has outscored its opponents 164-149 this season and caused 139 turnovers. They will also need to fight hard to gain possession of the ball early, as the Golden Bears have out-controlled their opponents in ball controls 184-153.

Defensively, Mintz will need to plug up any holes in the cage. The Golden Bears have six players who have scored more then ten goals this season.

As Columbia looks to its last two games of the season—against Cal and Bucknell on Wednesday—it is going to have to try to bolster its game so it can finish the season on a strong note. The Lions will aim to finish strong and gain some confidence so that they can go into next season with renewed vigor and energy.