Laxmen Fete McCaffrey, 11-4; Green Droops at B-Day Party

The Harvard men's lacrosse team threw a birthday party for senior attack Tim McCaffrey Saturday.

Mark Vita brought the candles.

His three saves in the middle of the second quarter kept the Crimson in the game while its offense was struggling.

Co-Captain Chris Pujols brought the streamers.

His shot from midfield late in the first half broke open a close game. And his goal late in the third period gave him 100 for his career.

And freshman Brad Raymond arrived with the birthday cake.

He pounded in a game-high three goals and added an assist to pace the Crimson.

McCaffrey, who turned 23 years old Saturday, added two tallies of his own and the Crimson turned its season finale against Dartmouth into an offensive party, pounding the Big Green, 11-4, in front of 400 spectators at Ohiri Field.

"It was really sweet," said Vita--who recorded eight saves on the afternoon. "We finally played for the full 60 minutes."

The Crimson finished its season with a 9-5 overall record, 4-2 in the Ivy League. Meanwhile, Dartmouth dropped to 3-12 overall.

"It was a great season," said Harvard Coach Bob Scalise, whose team snagged second place in the Ivy League after finishing last a year ago with a 0-6 Ancient Eight mark. "We got some great senior leadership this year which isn't going to be easy to replace. These kids turned our program around. We gained respect from the league."

The Crimson fell behind, 1-0, with just over a minute gone in the game when Big Green forward John Van Slyke--who led his team in scoring with two goals and two assists--tossed a pretty cross-field pass to Bob Mitchell; Mitchell grabbed the ball in front of the Harvard net and slammed a shot past Vita.

McCaffrey's goal with three minutes left in the quarter knotted the game at 1-1.

The Big Green stayed close during most of the first half and would have regained the lead had it not been for Vita--who stopped three Dartmouth shots in the middle of the second period, including two from five feet.

"I felt good," the senior goalie said. "Some days you just come up with the saves. Things were going my way."

With two minutes left in the first half and Harvard clinging to a 3-2 lead, Dartmouth goalie Phil Bayly trotted up field with the ball.

The Crimson defense was playing back and Bayly was looking for an open man downfield.

He spotted Slyke on the right sideline and flipped the ball toward the senior attacker, but Pujols reached it first.

With Bayly out of position, Pujols let loose a shot from midfield that soared into the middle of the Dartmouth net.

"That was a big goal," Scalise said. "He sees the open net, he throws it and it goes in. That really gave us a big lift."

The Crimson took a 4-2 lead into halftime and jumped out to a 9-2 advantage with three minutes left in the third period on goals by McCaffrey, Rufus Clark, Pujols, and two from Raymond.

Dartmouth closed to within six goals at the end of three periods. But by then, the party had already begun.

THE NOTEBOOK Bayly finished with 18 saves...Pujols ended his Harvard career with 100 goals and 66 assists. Co-Captain Tom Corcoran finished with 94 goals and 33 assists...Corcoran led the Crimson in goals-scored this year with 32...McCaffrey was the assist leader with 17...Vita, who sported a newly grown beard Saturday, concluded his season with 178 saves and his career with 193 saves and 116 goals allowed.