Impressive Second Half Leads Field Hockey to 4-2 Victory Over Brown

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Trailing 1-0 after the first half without a shot, the Harvard field hockey team (7-3, 2-1 Ivy) exploded with a four-goal second half, en route to defeating Brown (5-6, 1-2 Ivy) at Harvard Field Hockey Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The comeback started with Marissa Balleza scoring her ninth goal of the season and continued with two tallies from Elizabeth Jacobson off penalties corners. Ellie Cookson tacked on the insurance goal late in the game to ensure Harvard's victory. Balleza's goal in the 39th minute was the 30th of her career moving her into a tie for fifth all-time on the Harvard scoring list. Jacobson now has four game-winning goals and eight total goals this year.  Her eight goals is a new career-high and her four game-winners is tied for second-most in a season in program history.

"Elizabeth Jacobson was fantastic today scoring the goals, but also Sarah Finnemore had a couple
great interceptions at midfield that allowed us to keep our advantage over the last 12 minutes," said head coach Tjerk van Herwaarden after the game. "Overall it's a team effort, but we need people to step up to the plate and score goals and Jacobson did that for us today,"

First half action favored the Bears, with the visitors registering a 6-0 shots advantage. The game's first goal came in the 31st minute when Brown's leading scorer, Alexis Miller, scored on a shot from the top of the arc off a penalty corner.

Harvard regrouped at the intermission and came out in the second half with a renewed offensive energy. Balleza evened the score at 1-1 when she jammed home a rebounded right in front of the net after her first attempt and a shot from Kathleen Young were initially stopped by Brown goalkeeper Katie Hammaker.

The Bears took the lead back in the 47th minute thanks to an Emily Arciero goal that was shot from the top of the arc and deflected past the Harvard defense. It was the last tally of the game for Brown as Harvard took control of the contest over from that point.

The first of Jacobson's goals came at 59:55 off a set penalty corner play. Fielding the inset from Finnemore, Jacobson made an initial fake pass before spinning and firing a backhanded shot that eluded Hammaker. Less than four minutes later, Harvard found itself in an identical situation, with yet another penalty corner that saw Jacobson fake another pass, fake the spin move and then lace a forehanded shot through the defense and into the back of the cage.

Harvard continued to press on and put the finishing touches on its 4-2 victory when Cookson finished a strong offensive charge through the Brown zone with a one-timer goal set up by a pass from Balleza.

With the win Saturday, the Crimson stands at 2-1 in the Ivy League, alone in third place, trailing No. 19 Princeton and Penn, who are each 3-0. Harvard will next travel for its only road game of October to Cornell (5-4, 1-1 Ivy) Saturday, October 17.