BURLINGTON, Vt. - Caroline Simmons totaled six points on three goals and three assists to lead Harvard past Vermont, 13-10, in women's lacrosse action at Moulton Winder Field on Tuesday afternoon.

The two teams traded goals over the first 16 minutes of action to start the game. At the 13:10 mark of the first half, Natalie Curtis scored one of her two goals to begin a four-goal rally by the Crimson and give Harvard a 7-3 lead with 1:31 remaining in the period. The Crimson took an 8-4 advantage into halftime.

The Catamounts opened the second half with three straight goals to close within one, 8-7, with 26:54 showing on the clock, but the Crimson scored four straight goals to extend their lead to 12-7 with 15:45 remaining and hung on for the victory.

Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass.), the America East Rookie of the Week, led Vermont with three goals and added an assist. She and Jessa Merrill (Kennebunk, Maine) combined for 11 draw controls in the game. The Catamounts were just 4-for-12 on free position shots in the contest, but did out shot Harvard by one, 23-22 in the game.

Meaghan Hanley (Fort Pierce, Fla.) and Ali Trainor (Severn, Md.) combined to make five saves in the Vermont net. Hanley played 58 minutes, while Trainor saw time for the final two minutes of the first half.

Harvard also received two goals from five different players to add to Simmons' hat trick. Katherine Martino and Kathryn Tylander split time in the Crimson net and made 10 saves on the afternoon.

Harvard improves to 7-1 overall, while Vermont falls to 5-3 on the year. The Catamounts will be back in action on Saturday (March 29) when they travel to Boston, Mass. to take on the Boston University Terriers in an America East Conference game. The game is slated to begin at 3:00 pm and will be televised on CN8 (Channel 18 on the Comcast cable system throughout much of Vermont).

2008-03-25