STORRS, Conn. (March 14, 2007) - Senior tri-captain Tori Joel (Bel Air, Md.) scored a career-high five goals as the University of Connecticut women's lacrosse team defeated Harvard, 15-8, Wednesday afternoon at the George J. Sherman Sports Complex. The win is the fourth straight for the Huskies, as they improve to 5-1 on the season, heading into the BIG EAST opener this weekend against Loyola.

With the loss, the Crimson dips to 1-3 overall. They were led up front by Kaitlin Martin, who finished the day with five goals, all scored in the second half.

Freshman goalkeeper Jenna Moulton (East Rochester, N.Y.) was stunning between the pipes, posting a career-best performance for the second consecutive game with 14 saves on the day to secure UConn's defense. On the attack, Joel's performance was supported by a hat trick from senior tri-captain Kristin Link (Slingerlands, N.Y.) and four other Huskies with multi-point games.

The contest started off slow with both teams trading single tallies over the first 10 minutes of play, until UConn used a five-goal burst from five different players in the middle of the first period to blow the game wide open with 6:25 to go until halftime. After the Crimson cut the lead to four at 4:04, Whitney Michele (East Rochester, N.Y.) fired back a shot from Katy Ryan (Hamburg, N.Y.) to stretch the lead back to five at 7-2, as the teams headed into the intermission.

Harvard would get no closer in the second half as the Huskies quickly stretched the lead to 11-3 off the strength of two goals from Joel. Martin single-handedly attempted a comeback for the Crimson, scoring three of the next five goals for either team, bringing the score to 12-7 with 9:14 to go. UConn was not deterred as it closed down the period with three more goals down the stretch to effectively put Harvard away with the 15-8 score.

The Huskies return to action Saturday when they host BIG EAST member Loyola at 1:00 p.m. on the turf field at the Sherman Complex. The game marks this season's Youth Day with the children in attendance receiving a UConn giveaway upon entrance to the game as well as the opportunity to participate in additional games for prizes.

2007-03-14