Goalie Stymies Crimson Attack

Having won consecutive games to start the season, the No. 12/11 Harvard men’s lacrosse team faced No. 19/17 UMass on Saturday afternoon at Cumnock Turf. The Minutemen got out to an early lead and never relinquished it, defeating the Crimson 7-3.

UMass first got on the scoreboard midway through the opening period when senior attacker Jim Connolly sent a pass across the crease to teammate Bobby Hayes. From 15 yards out, Hayes ripped a shot top-shelf past Harvard goaltender Joe Pike.

Three minutes later, the Minutemen got another goal. Connolly, the team’s leading scorer, drove from behind the net and fired a low shot into the cage, his first of two goals on the day.

Down 2-0, the Crimson answered. Sophomore attacker Dean Gibbons cradled the ball behind the net before circling around the crease, faking high, and sneaking it by UMass goalie Doc Schneider.

Gibbons’ goal would be Harvard’s only score of the half, as Schneider denied the offense time after time. On one play, after the Minuteman defense failed to clear the ball, freshman attacker Kevin Vaughn found junior attacker Jesse Fehr streaking towards the net. From point-blank range, Fehr fired a shot at the lower right corner of the goal, but Schneider made a diving save to knock it away.

“[Schneider] played great,” senior co-captain Max Gottschall said. “He made some really good saves and gave their defense a little momentum.”

UMass tallied two more goals before the end of the half. On the first, attacker Tim Balise drove from the sideline directly towards the side of the net. He beat his defender to the crease and converted on a diving shot.

The other goal came on a scrum in front of the net. As Rory Pedrick was driving towards the crease, the ball was poked out of his stick and into the air. Pike was unaware as the ball bounced precariously near the goal line. Two defenders converged on the ball, but in an attempt to secure the ground ball, it was accidentally knocked into the goal.

At the start of the third period, UMass added another goal, this one by attacker Art Kell, to extend its lead to 5-1.

“We have a lot of confidence in our defense; we just didn’t play our A game today,” Harvard coach John Tillman said.

Facing its largest deficit of the season, the Crimson’s offense came alive. Vaughn assisted senior midfielder Nick Sapia on a one-timer from the right wing, and freshman attacker Jeff Cohen found Gibbons 15 yards in front of the net for a ripped shot past Schneider.

Schneider, however, was not to be beaten again. Again and again, whenever Harvard threatened, the Minuteman goalie stymied its attack.

“We ran into a goalie who’s terrific,” Tillman said. “He’s the heart and soul of their team, he’s a four-year guy, he’s one of the best out there, and they feed off his energy.”

Schneider finished the day with 14 saves and allowed only three goals, a new career low for the senior.

The Minutemen got some insurance after the Crimson’s run. Late in the third period, Connolly earned his second goal when he fired a shot from close range that handcuffed Pike and zipped into the net. Balise tallied his second score early in the fourth period to make the final score 7-3.

Seven goals are the most Harvard has allowed this season, and three goals are the fewest it has scored.

“The team that played better and deserved to win won,” Tillman said.

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.