Margin Too Large for Crimson Comeback

FOXBOROUGH, Mass—It was a tough day all around for the Harvard men’s lacrosse team.

From offense to defense Cornell thoroughly outplayed the Crimson in every aspect of the game. But there was one facet that was particularly crucial to the Big Red’s handy victory—faceoffs.

Although junior Nick Smith has made an admirable transition to the X and is winning over 50 percent of his faceoffs on the season as a whole, Saturday was an off day for the junior, who showed he still has some things to learn about his new position.

Harvard sorely missed current Major League Lacrosse player John Henry Flood. As the No. 3 faceoff man in the country, the 2007 captain won over 67 percent of his faceoffs (173-258), giving his team increased possession time and quick scoring opportunities.

“I think it’s a possession game,” Harvard coach John Tillman said. “When you know you’re winning faceoffs you can play a little looser on offense and play a little tighter on defense, because you feel like you haven’t had the ball in a while...you just have a lot more flexibility.”

Smith’s numbers left something to be desired against the Big Red, as the junior won just 3-of-11 matchups at the X in the first half, and freshman Andrew Parchman went 0-for-1 for a combined 3-for-12.

The second quarter was particularly tough for Harvard, as the team dropped 6-of-7 at the X. Cornell seemed to have the ball the entire frame, going on to score five goals to the Crimson’s one.

“Possession has been something coach has been harping on us for the past couple weeks,” junior midfielder Max Motschwiller said. “It’s been a problem in all of our games, whether it’s been clearing ground balls, faceoffs, the offense just holding onto the ball—that’s going to be a key for us.”

And Smith didn’t get any aid from the wing players, who usually step in to help out a faceoff man having a rough outing.

“We just weren’t in the right spot defensively,” Tillman said. “We weren’t able to hold onto the ball as well as we’d like. They won faceoffs, so all of a sudden we just felt like they had the ball for a really long time, and when you give a team like that so many opportunities, they’re going to generate some big shots.”

In the second half, the Crimson found out just how valuable faceoff wins can be, as Smith recovered to win 5-of-10 for the last 30 minutes. In the third quarter the team went 3-for-7 to match the Big Red score for score for the first time in the game. The fourth frame was a complete turnaround—the Crimson won 2-of-3 and outscored Cornell, 2-0.

“To Harvard’s credit, where you would’ve thought we would’ve chipped away and worn down their defense [with the faceoffs and possessions], they came back,” said Big Red coach Jeff Tambroni. “I thought they did a great job in the second half. The last probably 22 minutes of the game it felt like Harvard really controlled the pace.”

EXTRA MINUTES

Saturday’s game was the first lacrosse game ever to be played at Gillette Stadium…Both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships will take place at Gillette...The Harvard-Cornell matchup was the first game of a double header—Bryant beat Merrimack 7-5 in the second...The loss was Harvard’s fourth in a row and first at home this season...The Crimson entered the contest 2-0 at home and has just two home contests left, both to be played at Harvard Stadium…Harvard Stadium is the Crimson’s third home location this season, having played home matchups at both Jordan Field and Gillette Stadium as well...Cornell now heads back to Ithaca to take on the No. 1 team in the country, Syracuse, this Tuesday.

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.