University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Tops Harvard For First Win of 2004 Season
3/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Junior Tracy Mullaney (Cockeysville, MD) netted a hat trick to lead the University of Connecticut lacrosse team to its first win of the season as the Huskies topped Harvard, 10-4, on Saturday afternoon at Jordan Field in Cambridge, Mass. UConn stands at 1-4 with the victory while the Crimson slips to an even 2-2.
For the third consecutive game, UConn built a substantial first half advantage and this time the Huskies were able to hang on behind steady goaltending from junior Jennifer Wong (Greenwood Village, CO), who made 13 saves in the final game of a five-game season-opening road trip for the Huskies. UConn will play its home opener in Storrs on Tuesday.
Mullaney opened the scoring 8:45 into the game, and also tallied again before intermission, as the Huskies ran out to a 5-1 halftime advantage. Junior Abbey VanDeusen (Fayetteville, NY) and senior Kariane Lauri (Memphis, NY) each tallied the first of two goals each on the day before the break, while junior Jacqui Hamilton (Hopkington, MA) also found the back of the net for UConn.
The Huskies were also able to tally on five of their six free position opportunities in the first half while the team’s defense held the Crimson to just one goal in seven opportunities over the course of the game.
Just like the first half, the second stanza also saw a quintet of Husky tallies as Mullaney, Lauri and VanDeusen were joined by junior Heather McHugh (Bel Air, MD) and freshman Kristin Link (Slingerlands, NY), all of five whom scored a goal apiece. The Huskies’ lead got as high as eight goals after VanDeusen’s strike with 8:29 remaining in the contest put UConn up 9-1. Link’s goal, netted with 51 seconds remaining in the game, was the team’s tenth of the contest and the first of her young Husky career.
Although UConn controlled the flow of the game throughout, final stat totals were fairly even as Harvard held a 29-22 advantage in shots at goal while the Crimson posted slight edge by scooping up 37 ground balls to UConn’s 33.
Connecticut returns to the field on Tuesday when the Huskies play host to Lafayette College at 4:00 p.m. at the Sherman-Family Sports Complex.
