Minutemen Deal Laxmen OT Loss in Amherst, 8-7

With only a few minutes left in the last period yesterday against Massachusetts, the Harvard men's lacrosse team still hoped that seven goals would be enough.

Enough to propel Harvard over the 14th-ranked Minutemen and break Massachusetts' perfect 1992 home record.

Enough to avenge last year's gut-wrenching overtime loss to the Minutemen.

Enough to prove that outstanding defense and a clutch offensive spurt could beat a nationally-ranked team.

But those seven goals weren't enough as the Crimson (4-7, 1-4 Ivy) dropped the contest , 8-7, in overtime after a fourth-quarter rally to steal a lead that Massachusetts (7-2) had held for the entire game.

Massachusetts' star junior attackers Mark Millon and his teammate John Schlits led the Minutemen to victory and preserved the Minutemen's perfect home record. Millon scored four goals and Schlits tallied the winning score in overtime.

Millon and Schlits spoiled an amazing performance by Harvard goalie Chris Miller (27 saves) and the Crimson defense that held Massachusetts to five goals for most of the game, but it just was not enough to pull out a win.

The specter of inconsistency returned to haunt the Crimson offense, and Harvard 's attack could only muster four goals in the first three quarters.

With only 25 total shots (compared with 57 for Massachusetts), it was no surprise that Harvard had trouble scoring and could not take advantage of the inexperienced Minuteman goalie, freshman Tom Lopresti.

But going into the last period, Harvard trailed by one goal, and the Crimson offense, inspired by a defensive performance that had kept them in the game, squeezed out three goals to take the lead 7-5.

The Minutemen lived up to their nickname, however, as they regrouped in the last three minutes of the game and put together two equalizing goals.

Schlits then ended the contest 2:45 into the extra period with a shot that sneaked past Miller and sent Harvard home.

Despite the final, result, the team must be encouraged by the performance of the Crimson youth, as sophomore Mike Porter and freshmen Jamie Ames an Steve Gaffney combined for five goals and four assists.

MASSACHUSETTS, 8-7 (OT) at Amherst Harvard  5  2  0  --  7 UMass  3  4  1  --  8

G:Harvard--Ames (3), Porter (2), Agrillo; UMass--Million (4), Sidell (2), Schlits, Fitts.A: Harvard--Gaffney (3), Porter, Agrillo, UMass--Schlits, Sidell, Kline, Nentwich. S: Harvard--Miller, 27; UMass--Lopresti, 7.