Laxmen Reach .500 With Big Green Win

So far this season, the Harvard men's lacrosse team has walked with the turkeys and flown with the eagles.

But it did a little of both in an 11-10 victory over Dartmouth on a steamy Saturday in Hanover, N.H., allowing the Big Green to erase a four-goal lead in the fourth quarter before sophomore attacker Spencer Rice scored the game-winning goal with about two minutes to play.

"We got ahead," they caught up," Co-Captain Chad Prusmack said. "Lacrosse is such a momentum-oriented sport."

The win puts Harvard stop the 500 mark, an improbable accomplishment, after the team Jurched to a 1-7 start. But the Crimson has ridden a six-game winning streak back to respectability.

"It's a big win for us, no question," Rice said.

The Crimson's final game is tomorrow, against Cornell.

Game-Winner

Rice's game-winner came after Dartmouth had rebounded from a 10-6 deficit to tie the game with about 3:30 to go.

One minute later, Rice took a pass from sophomore attacker Dan Nicklas at point-blank range and scored easily.

"Dan drove to the net and my man left me to double up on him," Rice said. "He gave me the pass and I faked high, then dumped the ball in the goalie's five-hole [between his legs]."

The Harvard defense tightened up and limited Dartmouth to just two shots over the remainder of the game, Prusmack said.

"Our offense lost the ball, but the defense held up really well in the last two minutes," Prusmack said. "We played really well, after the fact."

Swings Worrisome

Harvard twice jumped out to big leads (in the first and third quarters) and twice let the Big Green catch up (in the second and fourth quarters).

"What we were up, we got kind of lazy," Co-Captain Eric Bentley said. "They [weren't very good], and we let them have a couple of goals, it was no matter."

No matter--Harvard won, but concentration lapses have plagued the Crimson all year. Earlier this season, the team fell into a pattern of playing an outstanding first half followed by a sub-par second half.

On Saturday, the complacency translated into quick Dartmouth goals--more so in the face of its pressure defense.

"The momentum changes were just a matter of us making mental errors," Rice said. "And their pressure defense forced us into more errors than we normally make."