Lacrosse Wins Ugly in 5-2 Sleeper Over Yale

Harvard's men's lacrosse team won an embarrassing victory Saturday, beating Yale by the unusually low score of 5-2 in New Haven. The Crimson's offense was listless, taking a cue from the inept Bulldogs who held the ball more than they tried to score.

The Bulldogs treated their fans to a tedious fourth quarter in which it seemed that they were playing to keep the game close, rather than to win.

Both defenses turned in excellent performances. Sophomore goalie Keith Cynar anchored a Harvard defense whose dominating performance was tarnished by weak clearing.

Cynar came up with eighteen saved on the day for a gaudy 90-percent save percentage, but the Crimson defense was successful on only 30-of-39 clearing attempts.

The inability to transfer the ball from defense to offense was typical of the Crimson's disjointed play all day, as the laxmen came out flat and seemed unable to muster any coherent offensive play.

Yale's strategy of forcing nothing on the offensive end, and holding the ball for interminable stretches unnerved the Crimson offense, which took hasty shots and made bad decisions when it did have the ball.

The Crimson got out of the blocks quickly. After Adam McGowan won the opening faceoff and got the ball into the box, senior Jared Chupaila scored 38 seconds into the game. The middle took a pass from classmate Owen Leary and ripped a low side-armed bounce shot past Yale junior goalie Joe Pilch. That was the only soft goal he allowed all day.

Senior Doug Crofton beat him with a terrific shot at the 5:42 mark in the first quarter. Sophomore attackman Lawson DeVries fed his teammate from behind the net and Crofton whistled a shot past Pilch short side, squeezing it through the gap between the post and the keeper's 230 pound frame.

Harvard's next goal would not come for another 18 minutes, and sandwiched between those tallies was a Yale goal scored by senior attackman Brian Shure, who converted a fast break triggered by a Harvard turnover.

DeVries got his first and the team's third goal by hanging on the edge of the crease, where he deposited a pass from senior Jim Bevilacqua into the net.

At several points in the game the Crimson looked like they were ready to explode, especially at the start of the third and fourth quarters when Jim Bevilacqua and Dana Sprong both scored early. But a strong and assertive Yale defense led by captain Vin Ferraro and sophomore Don Gerne stifled any attempted run. Their defensive effort captured the momentum for the Bulldogs, but their attack was unable to capitalize. HARVARD  5 YALE  2

"Yale has a really experienced defense that throws a lot of checks and likes to play aggressive and we just weren't ready for them today," said Lou Bevilacqua. "Also, we did not come out with the intensity we needed to get it done against a great goalie like Pilch."

In the second half Yale continued its stall tactics and Harvard could not muster any more scoring than in the first half. However, the close defense of Rob Hatch, Jeff Psaki and Andy Campelli did a terrific job hounding the Yale attackmen.

The defensive midfielders refused to let Yale's relentless but ineffective dodging from the midfield wear them down. Their conditioning and concentration paid off in the second half as they allowed only one goal by midfielder Coddy Johnson, who scored in traffic, lodging a lucky shot in the top left corner.

The positive side of the game is that the team got a letdown out of their system without having it hurt them. Against a better team they might have lost.

Harvard had a similarly uninspired performance last year against Dartmouth and were not so lucky, falling 14-13. They were fortunate to face a Yale team which was insipid offensively all day, firing a barrage of weak shots and never really threatening.

The Crimson have a week to put this game behind them and prepare for a talented Notre Dame team on Saturday. For the players, a win is a win, and the time off should cleanse the aftertaste from the Yale game.

However, the poor showing may have a negative effect in terms of the team's national ranking. Harvard may have squandered some of the points it earned with voters in its victory over highly ranked Massachusetts last weekend.

"I think that this score may diminish how far we go in the polls," said Coach Scott Anderson, "This week was an opportunity for us to really jump and I would have liked to have seen us move as much as possible, but technically [in terms of the power rankings] it should not hurt us in the end."

HARVARD, 5-2 at Lacrosse Field Harvard  2  1  1  1  --  5 Yale  0  1  0  1  --  2

G: Yale--Shure, Johnson; Harvard--Bevilaqua,Devries,Crofton,Chupaila,Sprong . A: Yale--O'Connell; Harvard Bevilaqua (2), DeVries, Leary. S: Yale--Pilch 10; Harvard--Cynar 15.