M. Lax Posts First Ivy Victory

In a season finale that determined whether the Harvard men’s lacrosse seniors would close out their careers with a four-game win streak or a last-place Ivy finish, the Crimson underclassmen responded to their leaders’ challenge and delivered another 7-6 victory—the team’s third straight by that margin.

Down 4-3 at the half, Harvard scored three quick goals to take a two-goal lead. Dartmouth came back tie the game with 5:38 left, but junior midfielder Doug Logigian came through with the game-winner just under a minute later to lift Harvard (8-7, 1-5 Ivy) back above .500 and bury Dartmouth (6-7, 0-6) in the Ivy cellar.

The victory closed out a three-phase season for the Crimson, who won its first and last four games, but dropped the seven in between all against top-20 competition. Senior defenseman Mike Packard felt that the finish made up for some of the mid-season disappointment.

“It would have been nice if we hadn’t lost seven in a row before [the win streak], but to be honest, all of us will remember what happened here at the end—that’s how it always is,” Packard said. “I couldn’t be happier for all the guys for helping us seniors get out of here on a win.”

A key to Harvard’s victory was the faceoffs. The Crimson won 7-of-8 in the second half, and 12-of-16 for the evening, including the crucial faceoff following the Dartmouth goal.

With the Crimson possession, senior Michael Baly set up Logigian with a clear look at the net from the left-center of the box, and Logigian beat Big Green goalkeeper Mike Gault to the low, near corner.

The Crimson gained possession again off the ensuing faceoff and ran the clock down to a minute with patient passing behind the Big Green net. Dartmouth made two runs on the attack in the final seconds, but sophomore goalkeeper Jake McKenna made the easy save on the first, and Packard came in from behind to check an open Big Green attacker on the second.

“Every once in a while you find yourself in a situation where you have to make a play—luckily that time I did,” Packard said.

The victory was made possible by Crimson domination in the first five minutes of the second half in which it scored three of its goals. The first came from Logigian at the left-center of the box on a shot similar to the game-winner and the second came from sophomore midfielder Jeff Gottschall as he unexpected snapped the ball inside the right post after quick passing around the midfield. Freshman Mike McBride’s goal capped the scoring flurry.

The onslaught started at midfield. By winning the faceoffs during that stretch, the Crimson kept the Big Green defense on its heels and wore them down. Harvard Coach Scott Anderson praised sophomore midfielder Alex Vap in particular on the draws.

Logigian also felt that the seniors’ words to them at halftime made a difference.

“When we got down at halftime, they said, ‘This is what we’ve been doing the last three games. We’ve been here before—let’s just pick it up,’ and I think that was our inspiration,” Logigian said.

Harvard couldn’t hold on to the lead, however, as Dartmouth’s Ben Grinnel beat McKenna five minutes later on a low shot that took an extraordinarily high bounce. The game-tying goal came in the fourth as a breakdown left the Big Green’s David Farber wide open at the crease.

The game’s first half was up-and-down for the Crimson, as every time Harvard scored, Dartmouth quickly answered. Junior attacker Derek Nowak got the job done early with two of the Crimson’s first three scores, while Matt Primm’s goal, Harvard’s second, was his 18th of the season.

When the Big Green took its only lead of the day at 4-3 of the first half, Harvard showed the strength it had been missing in some of its previous Ivy defeats. The Crimson lost three of its league contests by a total of just four goals.

“One liability all year has been our shooting, our ability to finish, but our work and our effort has been great,” Anderson said. “The best thing about this team was their resilience.”

In winning the last four games—three of them of by the narrowest of margins—the team was able to set aside its midseason disappointments for an outstanding finish that Harvard can build on in future seasons.