Men's Lacrosse Uses Offensive Outburst to Upset No. 4/4 Duke

For the first 20 minutes of their showdown, both No. 12/12 Harvard and No. 4/4 Duke lived up to their billings as two of the best teams in the country. The squads traded impressive goals, each trying to seize momentum and control of the game.

By the 10:10 mark of the second quarter, both teams had already found the back of the net five times. Neither had led by more than one goal at any point, and at 5-5, it looked like the Crimson was knotted in yet another close matchup.

After playing overtime in all three of its games thus far, however, and only leading for a total of about 25 minutes in those games despite coming back to win every one of them, Harvard erupted at the right time to put away the Blue Devils early. With an 8-0 run spanning most of the second period and lasting into the fourth, it put the game out of reach.

The Crimson (4-0, 0-0 Ivy) went on to secure a 14-9 victory, a big improvement after being overwhelmed at Duke (4-2, 0-0 ACC) by a 21-14 margin last season. In the process, it held the Blue Devils to a single-digit goal count for the first time since they lost to No. 1/1 Syracuse almost a year ago.

“The game was at a neutral site, but with a lot of the guys on the team from Long Island and the other areas around there [Shuart Stadium at Hofstra University], it felt almost like a home game,” Harvard co-captain Stephen Jahelka said. “A whole bunch of us had family and friends out there, and that helped us a lot.

Team play and cohesion were key for the Crimson on both sides of the ball during its big run, as six of its seven second quarter goals came off assists. Senior attackman Devin Dwyer claimed three of these tallies and assisted on another to provide the main driving force behind his team’s run.

“We were bringing the energy the entire game, and we were able to put all of that together in one big run,” Harvard coach Chris Wojcik ‘96 said. “Our ability to win the crucial ground balls and play in transition were key to our success.”

At intermission, with the Crimson holding a 10-5 lead, Dwyer had the same number of points as Duke had goals. With a late assist to complete a six-point performance, he leads the country with 6.25 points-per-game.

Sophomore goalie Robert Shaw remains undefeated after making a string of tough saves in the second and third quarters.

When the game was still hanging in the balance with Harvard clinging on to a 6-5 advantage, Shaw made a reflex stick save on an uncontested shot in front of goal by Blue Devils junior attackman Jack Bruckner. Shaw proceeded to make two saves on star midfielder Myles Jones in the third quarter. Jones was recently picked No. 1 overall in the Major League Lacrosse draft, but finished the day against the Crimson without a goal.

“[Shaw] was huge in net all game and made several timely saves,” Wojcik said. “It definitely started with the entire defense, though. Duvnjak and Breit did a great job rotating on Jones and everyone else was shifting well too.”

Sophomore attackmen Morgan Cheek and Justin Guterding also had standout performances for Harvard and Duke, respectively, both scoring three goals and assisting on three others.

Harvard pulled out the victory by limiting penalties and causing disruption in the Blue Devils defensive zone. Duke completed only 16 of 25 clear attempts, failing to find a rhythm on offense until the game was out of reach.

“It was probably the best team performance, top to bottom, that we’ve had all season,” Jahelka said. “It’s good to finally get a win against them before I graduate.”

—Staff writer George Hu can be reached at yianshenhu@college.harvard.edu.