Breakin' Out 'Til Next Year

It's that time of year.

The marker for your message board has run out of ink. Your poster gum doesn't stick anymore. The plant you bought from PBH has withered and died.

It's time to go home. Relax. Work on Wall Street. Sleep. Reread that sourcebook article you found so fascinating the first time. Like the sagacious Run in the Run-DMC film Krush Groove, you're breakin' out.

After a disappointing .500 season, the Harvard men's lacrosse team (7-7 overall, 2-4 Ivy) will be breakin' out, too. Breakin' out the sticks. Breakin' out the weights. Next year will be different.

"It's been a frustrating season because we just can't explain what happened," midfielder Ralph Vogel said. "But we're going to go home and really put our noses to the grindstone."

Expectations were high coming into the year, as the Crimson copped the #11 pre-season ranking. By April, Harvard was 5-1 and the seventhranked team in the nation.

Then the bottom fell out. Six straight losses. Some of them close, some of them ugly. All of them frustrating.

"We haven't played a single team we couldn't have beaten," midfielder Chris Garvey said after a painful loss to Yale. "I don't know what it is. I don't have any answers."

Neither did the rest of the squad, until the last two games of the season. Finally, the offense clicked, and New Hampshire and Dartmouth were the victims.

"Winning our last two games helped to end the season on a positive note," midfielder Perry Dodge said. "Losing the seniors will really hurt, but we'll still be a young team next year. I think we'll be right up near the top of the Ivy League.

Bevy of All-Ivies: Individual honors rolled in this week for four Crimson starters. Defender Mike Murphy led the way with his first-team All-Ivy selection.

"Most collegiate teams have one guy who is the real catalyst for the offense," Dodge said. "Murph shuts them down."

To say the least. The 6-ft., 4-in. junior was not beaten one-on-one since March. Unless Benno Schmidt is on the NCAA selection committee, Murphy should earn All-America honors next week.

Senior Co-Captain Rob Griffith, the Ivy Player of the Week in early April after a five-goal outburst against Penn, was selected to the second-team midfield. Attackers Mickey Cavuoti, the team's leading point producer (16-20--36), and David Kramer, the top goal scorer with 21 tallies, earned honorable mention.

Lux Et Veritas: Senior Co-Captain Steve Lux was selected as the team's MVP at a banquet last week. Lux scored six goals against UNH on May 3 to bring him within two points of Cavuoti on the scoring list (18-16--34).

Griffith and senior defender Andy Barnard shared the Class of '59 Trophy for leadership and enthusiasm, and the Herman Hammerman Unsung Hero Award went to senior long-stick midfielder Peter Long. Freshman defender Lars Richardson was the Most Improved Player.

Dodge and midfielder Mark Donovan were chosen as Co-Captains for next year's squad. Dodge, a junior from Radnor, Pa., notched 12 goals and 6 assists from his starting midfield position.

Donovan was the Crimson's most versatile player this year, chipping in as a second-line midfielder as well as a long-stick middie, and handling the face-off duties to boot. Donovan led Harvard in ground balls with 74.

Nice Berg: The Crimson will be hurt by the losses of Lux, Griffith, Long, Barnard, attacker Brad Raymond, and midfielder Chris Garvey. But they won't be the only ones missed. The Morgan Trophy, awarded annually to the person who has done the most for Harvard lacrosse, went to deserving team manager Stacey Berg. Sincere thanks to her and Assistant SID Julie Rice for their help this season.