Star Lacrosse Player Deals With Injury

After a highly successful freshman season with the Harvard men’s lacrosse team last year, it was going to be tough for attackman Greg Cohen to duplicate his success this year. When he never even got on the field, it became impossible.

The Crimson has been without the star sophomore attackman all season. Cohen was sidelined in the preseason with pneumonia. Just as he was about to return to practice, Cohen broke his right humerus playing basketball—diagnosed at the time as a potentially season-ending injury.

“I was hoping to get back for the last couple of games,” Cohen said. “My arm feels absolutely great right now, but the x-ray showed that it wasn’t ready to get hit yet.”

Despite his injury, Cohen has kept up his involvement with the team and his love of the sport.

“He is fully committed,” Harvard head coach Scott Anderson said. “He puts as much time into lacrosse as any one who is playing and, to his credit, he has dealt really well with the disappointment and adversity. It was just really bad timing.”

Cohen attends practice, travels with the team, learns the new strategies, and helps out when he can.

“It was frustrating for me not being able to be out there,” said Cohen. “[Instead of playing], I kept score. I got pretty good at taking statistics.”

As a result of missing the entire season, Cohen could apply to redshirt at the end of the year and retain an extra year of eligibility, but not in the Ivy League if he hopes to graduate with his class. The Ivy League is one of only a few leagues that does not allow graduate students to play.

Anderson said that Cohen has spoken with the compliance officials, but has yet to make a decision on future plans.Cohen had an extremely impressive rookie season, leading the team in assists (15) and points (26) and finishing fifth in goals (11). With his help, the Crimson ended with a 7-6 record, but remained just 2-4 within the Ivy League. In recognition of his efforts, Cohen was selected the New England Rookie of the Year and was the only Harvard player to be named first-team 2004 NIELA Division I All-New England.

Only Princeton attackman Peter Trombino—last season’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year—tallied more points among freshmen than Cohen, finishing with 24 goals and 11 assists. Cohen, as the only offensive player to start all 13 games last season, was an integral part of a Crimson attack that tallied almost 10 goals per game. Cohen himself scored points in all but two games. As a two-time high school All-American and member of the 2003 U.S. under-19 national team from Syosset, N.Y., Cohen entered Harvard with high expectations and actually managed to live up to the hype.

“With the talent that he has, it isn’t hard to predict that he will be an important or perhaps the most important offensive part of the team for some years to come,” said Anderson.

Without Cohen this season, the Crimson has started two freshman at attack. Like Cohen last year, both Brooks Scholl and Zach Widbin have experienced early success, as they are the first- and second-leading scorers on the team, respectively.

With Cohen back in the lineup alongside his returning teammates and with the addition of some talented freshman, the team looks to challenge teams like Princeton, Dartmouth, and Cornell to make a push for the Ivy League title next year.