Sarah Walker ’05 is not afraid to sacrifice her body to keep her team in the game.

This Saturday at Yale’s Lacrosse-Soccer Field, Walker held Harvard (3-3-3) scoreless through 90 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute sudden death overtimes. Unfortunately for Yale (4-4-1), Harvard goalie Katie Shields matched Walker’s shutout. The game ended in a 0-0 tie.

Walker made eleven saves, including several of the spectacular variety. Midway through the first overtime Walker hit the dirt to make a diving save to keep the game scoreless.

“I’ve played with her before, so I know the incredible things she does are normal for her,” midfielder Mia Arakaki ’05 said.

Walker has been brilliant in goal all season, and is ranked second in the Ivy League in both saves and shutouts. She has also racked up the most minutes of any Ivy League goalie and is ranked fourth in goals-against average.

“Sarah was our MVP,” Yale head coach Rudy Meredith said in a press release. “She was very good. This was our best game this season in terms of effort.”

Yale’s offense has been lackluster recently. The Bulldogs have scored only two goals over the last four games, resulting in three straight losses and the draw on Saturday. Facing off against Quinnipiac today and Dartmouth on Saturday, the team needs to find a way to put the ball in the net.

“It’s just a question of us capitalizing on our chances early,” Meredith said. “If we score one goal early we can score three or four more easily later. We just need to get that first goal early on.”

Dartmouth (4-5-0), which holds the Ivies’s best record at 2-0-0, presents the larger challenge this week. Yale has struggled against Ivy League teams, going 0-1-1, including a 4-2 loss at Princeton Sept. 27. Overall, Yale boasts a .500 winning percentage.

Currently the team is trying to jump-start their offense.

“We’ve been working on combination passing and getting the ball to the forwards as quickly as possible,” Arakaki said.

Captain Lee Anne Jasper ’04 is hopeful the Elis can pull it together in these next two games.

“We are going to figure this out offensively, we are going to connect and the defense will hold strong,” Jasper said.

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