Laxmen Sweep Yale, Delaware

Occasionally you feel proud to be associated, no matter how peripherally, with a Harvard sports team. It executes the plays smartly, players fill roles creatively, they dignify themselves under pressure, and somehow you can't help thinking that something worthwhile is going on here.

The Harvard men's lacrosse team lengthened its winning streak to four games this weekend, beating Yale, 8-5, in New Haven, Conn., and Delaware, 10-9 (OT), in Cambridge. While back-to-back wins feel good at any stage of a season, these were especially meaningful.

1) They promoted a string of satisfying and successful play initiated before the snow. 2) Brendan Meagher, who, for the irretrievably ignorant, is the Crimson's recently convalesced All-American, played sporadically in both games and his progressive recovery promises good things to come in the midfield. 3) Clockwork passing and physical defense produced a first stanza that was "the best half we've played this year," according to Coach Bob Scalise. 4) Delaware gave the Crimson the biggest scare of its winning streak in making up deficits of 6-3 and 9-7, but the team shut the door in panic's face with a quick sudden death score.

At the very least the weekend was a satisfying segment to a young season. Scalise called it a "great" segment, and if that means it nurtures hope for the rest of the schedule, so be it.

Yale has won a solitary Ivy League contest in each of the last three seasons. Saturday the Elis dropped the posses they were able to throw on target, ran around like excited children on offense, and sagged ferociously on defense. They were bad, and not all of it was Harvard's doing.

"Delaware," claimed Scalise last week, "is the best 2-7 team you can face." Six (seven after the Crimson had disappointed Delaware yet again) of its losses have come by two goals or less, and nearly all of them at the hands of competitive Middle Atlantic teams.

After a closely contested first half ending in a 5-3 Harvard advantage, Delaware scored four goals in the third quarter while Harvard managed only one, and the Crimson fell behind for the first time since the opening minutes.

Because something had to be done, Scalise delivered an "inspirational" speech between periods. Less than a minute later, Tom McGivern slammed a sidearm grounder into the net from 20 feet and evened the game at seven. Throughout the game, the hard-nosed midfielder wheeled cat-like about the field, drawing penalties, initiating passing sequences, generally doing more than anyone to mediate occasional Crimson lulls in concentration; his goal was only justice.

Some lacrosse god served up even more of the same when freshman Rob Hawley subsequently scored one goal and assisted on another. Like McGivern, Hawley put on a tremendous display over the course of the game, tallying two goals and six assists, yet neither his nor McGivern's task was finished.

Two Delaware goals sent the game into sudden death overtime, and the pair of protagonists surfaced yet again. McGivern justified Sealises's decision to choose him for the faceoff. After he won the ball, he started a passing sequence downfield that culminated with Hawley assisting from behind the goal on a game-ending Norm Forbush score.