Harvard, Cornell Renew Rivalry

If there was ever a year to beat Cornell, this is it.

For the past ten years, the Big Red men’s lacrosse team has crushed Harvard, last year winning soundly, 11-7.

But tomorrow at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y., No. 3 Cornell (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) faces a No. 13 Crimson (5-2, 1-0) team that has already defeated then-No.7 Duke, and is coming off of a 17-2 victory against Presbyterian last Friday. This Harvard team is more than ready to knock the Big Red down.

“We’re good to go,” co-captain Nick Smith said. “[We’re] not worrying so much about what the name on their jersey is, but just playing our game.”

In the 81-game history between these two Ancient Eight schools, the Crimson has won only 28 matchups. But this year, a Harvard team that has been ranked as high as No. 11 nationally is hoping for a win before taking on league rivals Princeton and Brown in the next two weeks.

“It’s a really important game,” co-captain Max Gottschall said. “We didn’t bring our best game to the table last year, so we are really looking forward to it. It sets the tone for our season and the next big games.”

The Crimson is 1-1 against ranked teams, defeating Duke in February but then falling, 7-3, to then-No. 19 Massachusetts two weeks later. While Harvard will attempt to secure another win against a ranked team, the Crimson will also look to tally another win away from home, bettering its road record of 3-1.

For Harvard, Saturday’s game will provide a test in strength between the two Ivy League offenses.

“We just have to play our game,” Smith said. “One of their big tactics is to come right out and sort of intimidate their opponents right off the bat. But one of the things we’ve been working on this year is coming right out with a lot of energy and excitement.”

This season, the Crimson has outscored its opponents, 78-39, and has outshot teams by a count of 263-157. But Cornell ranks second in the country in goals per game (13.86) and has junior attack Ryan Hurley, the nation’s leading scorer with 3.67 goals per game.

While Harvard will have to watch out for the offensive prowess of Hurley, who scored five goals against Penn last week, and senior midfielder Max Seibald, the Big Red will have their hands full with the Crimson’s defense. Considered one of the best defenses in the country, the team of Gottschall, junior Ben Smith, senior Eric Posner, and senior goalie Joe Pike has yet to give up more than eight goals in a game this season.

“We’re just looking to play our style of defense,” Gottschall said. “[Cornell doesn’t] really run that many offense sets, I guess, so we are just going to communicate and play with a sense of urgency. It’s an important game for the defense.”

Pike especially will see a lot of action on Saturday, but the senior is more than prepared. So far this season, Pike has come up with 43 saves, and is ranked ninth on the all-time Harvard list with 359 stopped shots. His 5.52 goals-against average is tops in the nation.

If all goes well, Harvard’s midfield and defense will be able to prevent an aggressive Big Red offense from getting anywhere near Pike’s goal.

“We’re going to try to focus on picking up our ground balls the first time, opposed to sort of missing them,” Smith said. “We’ve had a lot of focus on our clears this week. The clearing game is going to be very important. They are very aggressive riders, so hopefully we will be able to make all of the right smart plays and clear the ball.”

But despite technique and aggression, the main ingredient Harvard will need is the right mindset.

“It all depends on who shows up on Saturday playing their best game,” Gottschall said. “It’s always fun to play the best. That’s what we look forward to do.”