Deductive Logigian

When the Harvard men’s lacrosse team stepped on to the field of the Class of 1952 Stadium, it was about to undertake its toughest task of the year—beating Princeton.

The No. 2 Tigers (7-2, 3-0 Ivy) have, in a word, dominated both the Crimson (4-6, 1-3) and the Ivy League for the past decade. They have won the Ivy League title for the past eight years and have been national champions six out of the past eleven years—including one in 2001. Their coach, Bill Tierney, has already been inducted in to the Lacrosse Hall of Fame and has the second highest winning percentage among active Division 1 coaches (.782 percentage).

And Princeton has shown no sign of slowing down. The squad is on a seven-game winning streak, with victories over such teams as No. 7 Syracuse, who defeated the Tigers in 2002’s national championship game. Princeton also boasts one of the most experienced squads in the nation—seven of the ten players who started the game on Saturday were seniors.

Still, even such daunting statistics and an early Tigers’ lead did not send the Crimson squad into submission. Leading the resistance was tri-captain midfielder Doug Logigian.

“We were not intimidated,” said Harvard coach Scott Anderson.

The Crimson out-hustled Princeton, winning 33 ground balls to the Tigers’ 28. Harvard also outshot Princeton 35-31 and won 14 of 24 face-offs.

On and off the field, Logigian inspired the Crimson to make its miraculous second-half comeback, when it shrank an eight goal deficit to just three.

“When we went in at half-time there were some guys who were pretty frusterated,” Logigian said. “And Coach Anderson basically challenged us to come out in the second half and play a new game.”

Logigian was the first to lead Harvard on this renewed attack when he scored just 20 seconds in to the second half, when he received a feed from junior midfielder Alex Vap after the Princeton defense had broken down following the face-off to make the score 10-4.

It didn’t take Logigian long to find the back of the net again. With 10:25 remaining in the thrid period, he tallied his final score to complete the hat trick, his first since Harvard’s match against Holy Cross last month when the team notched 18 points. The goal came off an assist from tri-captain attack Matt Primm, who beat his man to draw the initial slide before finding an open Logigian.

“The first dodge is typically to get the defense moving, so we can open things up,” Logigian said. “Normally when someone scores assisted goals it’s a testament to the fact of how much the other five guys on the offense are moving around.”

Perhaps most impressive with Logigian’s three-goal performance was the fact that it came from one of the top midfielders on the Crimson. Logigian often draws a long-stick midfielder when he is on the offensive side of the field and is a constant focus for opponents’ defenses.

Also integral to his performance was his unusually high shooting percentage. Against Princeton, he scored three goals on just six shots, but had a .164 scoring percentage going into Saturday’s matchup.

But being such an important member of his team has been a constant in Logigian’s career. In high school he captained three sports, earned varsity letters in four and was a lacrosse All-American his senior year.

At Harvard, Logigian continued to accel. As a sophomore, he was a first-team all-Ivy selection and was second on the team for scoring (22).

This year, he was a preseason All-American as selected by Face-Off magazine and is second on the team in goals (12) and ground balls (29).

“He’s a really good athlete who’s really fast and strong,” said tri-captain defender Andrew Crocco. “You’re not going to be able to stop him with just one person.”

Still, Logigian remained modest about his impressive accomplishments.

“Like anyone else, I would have traded in my performance [against Princeton] for a win,” Logigian said. “In the end, the only thing that matters are the victories.”

—Staff writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu.