No. 13 Men's Lax to Take on No. 9 Big Red

The Brothers Cynar will compete for family bragging rights tomorrow as senior goaltender Keith Cynar's Harvard men's lacrosse team goes up against sophomore goalkeeper Justin Cynar's Cornell squad.

The No. 13 Crimson (5-1, 1-0 Ivy) will face it's second Top 10 opponent in as many games in No. 9 Cornell (5-1, 2-0 Ivy).

Harvard was undefeated going into last Sunday's 14-8 loss to No. 5 Duke. Although Cornell is not as imposing as the Blue Devils were, the Big Red still presents a tough challenge for the Crimson.

The Big Red is one goal away from being undefeated this season, its only loss came against No. 7 Maryland, 8-7.

"I'm expecting a very competitive, close game," Coach Scott Anderson said. "We match up very well with Cornell."

The toughest aspect of this game for the Crimson may be operating out of its set offense. Against tough opponents this season, notably Hobart and Duke, Harvard has had difficulty executing its offensive sets because of heavy defensive pressure.

"We don't think that Cornell will pressure us as much as Duke did," senior attackman Lawson DeVries said, "but we have to run our offense."

Cornell has a solid defense that gives up only 6.8 goals per game. But the Big Red is young on defense with only one senior letter-winner.

The Crimson will most likely test Cornell's defenders one-on-one to try and exploit their inexperience.

"They've got a great team defense," DeVries said. "We've got to attack their short-stick defenders, something we've gotten away from in the last few games."

Harvard has got to be able to execute in the offensive end and to convert clearing opportunities to get the ball out of its own defensive end.

These two areas, which have been suspect for the Crimson at various times this season, will be crucial against a Cornell team that plays a grinding style of offense.

"They're a very methodical team offensively," Anderson said. "We've got to be careful and exploit our opportunities because they'll exploit theirs."

Cornell likes to hold the ball offensively and eat up time on the game clock. Senior attackman Sean Steinwald has been an offensive force for the Big Red, notching 20 goals and 8 assists thus far this season.

Harvard's normal man-to-man defensive sets will put the defender's stamina and conditioning to the test tomorrow.

The Big Red likes to sit in its offensive sets until a defender tires, and then it can exploit the opening for a score.

Fortunately for Harvard, Cornell is not very effective in extra-man situations, scoring only 29 percent of the time. This statistic may indicate that Cornell's patient offense doesn't have the time to convert scores in only a minute.

But the statistic may also indicate that Cornell struggles against zone defenses of the type that all teams use when they are man-down. So, the Crimson may look to switch to a zone or combination zone/man defense to take some of the strain off of its defenders if they start to tire.

The other thing that Harvard has to do is to ride the Cornell clear effectively. The Big Red converts 75 percent of its clearing chances, but if the Crimson can hold Cornell below that, it can limit how long the Big Red can hold the ball on offense.

When Harvard clears, it is in a bit of a bind. Although scoring off transition situations has been a strength for the Crimson this season--especially when the offense has been unable to get the set plays working--a quick score off of transition may prove a liability against the Big Red.

Since the defense will most likely be tired after a long Cornell possession, Harvard has got to hold the ball on offense and give the defense some rest.

That strategy depends on how effective the Crimson face-off unit is.

Cornell sophomore midfielder Addison Sollog has won 54 percent of his face-offs this season. Against Duke, Harvard won 50 percent of the face-offs.

If the Crimson can establish an edge over Sollog after a score, it will diminish the effectiveness of the plodding Cornell offense immensely.

Looking at the games these teams have played this season, Harvard has to be considered an underdog. Cornell has beaten many of the same teams by wider margins than Harvard beat them, and its sole loss was by one goal to a Top 10 team.

The Crimson, by contrast, lost by six goals to a Top 10 team. For Harvard to win, it is probably going to have to establish consistency in all facets of its game and not allow Cornell to dictate the pace of the contest.