No. 13 Men's Lax Upset by UMass

After overcoming an early three-goal deficit, the No. 13 Harvard men's lacrosse team went scoreless in the fourth period and dropped to unranked UMass yesterday, 10-9.

UMass attackman Mike Janowicz scored the go-ahead goal 26 seconds into the fourth period after the teams remained deadlocked at the end of the third, and the Minutemen held on for their first win in four games.

The Minutemen have now won seven straight games against New England opponents. The Crimson has dropped four of its last five.

UMass was ranked No. 20 two weeks ago, but three straight losses have dropped the Minutemen from the polls.

It was another day in front of the firing squad for goalie Keith Cynar. The senior faced 46 shots from the Minutemen (5-5, 1-3 ECAC) and registered 15 saves, breaking his three- game streak of 20 or more saves.

The Crimson (6-4, 2-2 Ivy) registered only 22 shots on the day, and only three in the arid final frame.

Harvard was similarly outshot against Princeton last Saturday, when the Tigers put 51 shots on Cynar's cage, while the Crimson offense mustered 29.

The Minutemen jumped out to an early lead, grabbing three goals by the middle of the first period before the Crimson struck back. UMass midfielder Jeremy Guski struck first at 10:58, followed by goals from attackmen Rich Kunkel at 6:07 and Kevin Levielle at 4:06.

Senior attackman Lawson DeVries took a feed from senior line mate Geoff Watson and cut the lead to two with 2:22 left in the first period.

The Crimson took the momentum from the DeVries goal and stormed into the second period, netting four more goals before UMass struck again.

Junior attackman Dana Sprong found rope twice in the Crimson's second period run, getting help from junior middie Roger Buttles on his first at 13:55 and from Watson for his second at 11:24 when Harvard was in a man-up situation.

UMass managed to stay composed as the onslaught continued with freshman attackman Matt Primm's unassisted goal at 10:11 that extended the lead to two for the Crimson. The Minutemen notched a pair in response to even the score, 5-5.

The teams traded goals after that, and DeVries, who had started Harvard's run, made it 7-6 at the end of the half with his second goal of the game.

The second period was a pocket of strong play for the Crimson. Shots were even at 11 apiece, and both teams nabbed eight groundballs.

For the afternoon, the Crimson was on the losing end in both departments, as UMass not only outshot the Crimson but grabbed 45 groundballs to the Harvard's 22.

Trouble began in the third period when the Crimson barely managed to keep the play even, despite converting on two of its three shots in the frame.

DeVries got his third at 3:33 and Primm got his second at the three-minute mark to push the score to 9-8 in favor of the Crimson.

But Janowicz got his first with only 1:39 left to lock the score, and struck two minutes later to seal the game.

The third period was illustrative of the day, if not instructive for the Crimson's remaining games.

Minutemen goalie Chris Campolettano entered the game with a 9.09 GAA and a .562 save percentage. Compared with Cynar, who is second in the NCAA with a .662 save percentage, Campolettano is one of the weaker goalies the Crimson will face all year.

The UMass netminder gave up 21 goals against No. 3 Loyola last Saturday when the Greyhounds registered 48 shots on the cage. Campolettano is certainly porous, but needs to be tested.

The Crimson can score, and did in the second and third periods against a weak goalie in Campolettano. But it will not score many goals if it continues to get only a few shots off each period. With three games left, Harvard now looks for someone to become a reliable target around the crease.

The Crimson also had trouble getting the ball into its offensive zone, indicating that the dry periods in the Crimson attack often began with an off-kilter transition.

The Crimson converted 18-of-29 clearing attempts in the game, but only 8-of-15 in the second half. The game is reminiscent of Harvard's seven-game slide last year that ended any hopes of a post season, when the team's biggest problem was getting the ball forward on a consistent basis.

But this is a different team, and hopefully it will be a different ending.

The Minutemen face ECAC rival No. 5 Georgetown (9-1, 4-1) on Saturday.

The Crimson will have a chance to pull itself out the skid when it faces a weak Yale team (7-4, 2-3) this Saturday in New Haven.